ALSO BY 
ADOLFO BEST-MAUGARD 


THE 
SIMPLIFIED HUMAN FIGURE 


An easy and original method 
for drawing the human figure 
and its component parts. 


This 1s a Borzoi Book 
published in New York by ALFRED A. KNOPF 


A METHOD FOR 
OC Repeal Vv he DES LGN 


Gm. © 0, 0,0,0.0,0,0,09,090,0,0,% 


ONT OAN 


A METHOD FOR 
CREATIVE 
DESIGN 


By 
ADOLFO BEST-MAUGARD 


NEW YORK 
ALFRED: A+-KNOPF 
1949 


COPYRIGHT 1926, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. 


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without per- 

mission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief 

passages or reproduce not more than three illustrations in a review to be printed in a 
magazine or newspaper. 


REVISED EDITION, MAY Shor 
REPRINTED TEN TIMES 
TWELFTH PRINTING, FEBRUARY  Oeo 


THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK, 
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. 


MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


Ipeeh eHony Gr 


THE series of lessons used in this special method are 
quite simple and are intended both for children and for 
adult students. It is primarily for those who love 
drawing and design but have found them an unattain- 
able dream, having given up their hopes and ambitions 
because of the difficult years of study required by the 
usual methods. It is the purpose of this book to give 
them the opportunity of making their dream come true, 
and this realization may be brought within the realm 
of possibility by the application of their efforts a short 
time each day, in a trial of a few weeks. 

Some people are unhappy in life because they are 
unable to express themselves through the different 
arts, such as Music, Painting, Dancing, Singing, etc., 
since to do so they must study for many years. By 
that time they have lost their first fresh impulse. They 
are so tired of the drudgery that they do not care 
whether they express anything or not. And most 
persons do not even try to study. 

Individual creation should give us a relief from the 
routine of everyday work, and in this method we will 
try to make our designs merely for our own amuse- 
ment. Art is to be considered as a plaything, a re- 
freshing pursuit by which we may find an outlet for our 
emotions through our own creations. 

We shall give the student what he is unconsciously 
striving for: the materials and suggestions which will 


vi PRE FE ACG 


make him utilize his creative energies by putting him in 
the proper environment. By giving him the general 
principles, we shall help him to find the most direct 
road to complete self-expression through his own ex- 
perience, thus eliminating unnecessary waste of effort 
and time. The most salient features of this system are 
the simplicity and rapidity with which results are ob- 
tained. 

The student will find himself making progress with- 
out any conscious effort; from the first week’s study 
he will begin to realize unexpected potentialities for 
artistic expression which will develop later on a new 
faculty, and he will realize that he is now able to create 
his own schemes, which before he never dared dream 
of doing. The development of this power within him 
is the basis of his real individuality and makes him a 
creator in the finest sense. He will be no longer 
under, the necessity of copying from others, he will 
dream his work out of his own imagination and his 
production will be unique. 

The child enjoys drawing; why should not the adult 
enjoy it as well? For the toiler and the business man 
drawing should be as much a diversion as it is for 
children. A grown-up person who has never studied 
the art of design will appreciate it as fully as a child 
enjoying his first lessons, and with the same chances 
of success. 

Thanks are due the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
and the Museum of Natural History for the use of 
certain of the illustrations; also to Harry C. Block and 
to Julian P. Smith for their aid in revising and preparing 
the manuscript for the press. 


GONTENTS 
Pewee COREATIVE DESIGN 


PART 1 

1 THe Seven Motirs 

2 BORDERS 

3 PosITIONs oF THE MotTIFs 


4 RosETTES AND FLOWERS — (FULL VIEW) 


5 Avt-Over PATTERNS 


tat AL 


6 GROWTH 

7 FLOWERS — (IN PROFILE) 
8 LEAVES 

g STEMS 

10 FLOWER COMPOSITIONS 


PART OI 

11 BUTTERFLIES AND Dracon FLIES 
12 RIBBONS AND BowkKNotTs 

13 BASKETS 


BART 1K 

14 VasEs, PircHERS AND URNS 
15 FRuirts 

16 Fruit CoMPosITIONS 

17 GARLANDS 


PART V 


18 PLANTS AND EARTH 
19 TREES 


Vill CON TENTs 


20 WATER AND WAVES 
21 FisH AND OcEAN PLANT LIFE 


fon esta, 


22 Birps 
23 COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN Coats OF ARMS 


PART ALE 


24 MouNTAINS AND CLoupDs 
25 SUN, Moon AND STARS 
26 FLAMES 


FART Lae 


27 Houses 

28 FENCES 

29 SMOKE AND FLaGs 

30 CURTAINS 

31 TypicaL Earty AMERICAN ORNAMENTS 


PART IX 
32 ANIMALS 


PART 
33 [THE Human Ficure 


AR es 


34 COMPOSITION 
SpacE AND Mass CoMPoSsITION 
35 CoLor 


PART CALI 


36 PERSPECTIVE 
37 DISTANCE 
38 SHADING 


PART Sis 
39 MopERN SURROUNDINGS 


CON EIN TS 


ioe REATIVE IMAGINATION 


PART I 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE IMAGINATION 


PART II 
THE SEVEN MotiFs IN PRIMITIVE ARTS 


PAR Tell 
THE ARCHETYPE 


PART IV 
THE WHIRLING SPIRAL 


PART. Vf 
THe PsycHOLOGY OF CREATION 


BART Pd 
Tue INNER AND OUTER CAUSES OF CREATION 


1x 


109 


125 


147 


156 


166 


172 


BOOK I 
CREATIVE DESIGN 


ie eaUicdh oa 


ft ee SEVEN MOTIFS 


The suggestions and rules that we will follow are 
simple and easily understood by everyone. They are 
quickly grasped and retained in the mind of the student. 

In this method, there are seven simple motifs and 
signs, which we consider as fundamental, and a few 
rules to follow, and these, once in the student’s memory, 
will enable him to make an infinite number of combina- 
tions and designs which he will enjoy. These seven 
motifs are already well known to us, and we find them 
in the forms and shapes of all our surroundings. 

The first is the Spiral or the very familiar scroll 
motif, suggested in the whirlpool, or in the rolled shape 
of such things as the snail’s shell. 


@ 


The second is the simple Circle. We see it in the 
shape of the sun or in the ripples in the surface of still 
water into which a stone has been dropped. 


O 


I 


2 CREATIVE DESTGH 


The third is the Half-circle, found in the rainbow 
and in the crescent moon. 


Can 


The fourth is Two Half-circles in the form of the 
letter S, like the shape of flames of fire. 


Ne 


The fifth is the Wavy line; we see it in water waves 
or in the shape of wavy hair. 


O™”°.\SF0INI 


The sixth is a broken Zigzag line; it suggests the 
outline of the broken peaks of mountains or the light- 


ning. 
ANIA 
The seventh is nothing but the simple Straight line 
which gives the position of quiet hanging things, trunks 
of trees, or the ocean line of the horizon. 


GA OA OERD, 


These seven motifs, which, as we have seen, are al- 
ready familiar to us in the shapes of natural objects, 
are the fundamentals of this method of design, and 
everything that we do hereafter will be in the way 
of combining and arranging two or more of the motifs 
into attractive designs. There are two rules to be 
remembered: 

1. Never cross lines, or allow one line to interfere 
with another, but let every line go on its way with- 
out touching the others. 


BORDERS 3 


2. When using similar motifs, as in border ar- 
rangements, they should be drawn in parallel and at 
equal distances apart. 


2. BORDERS 


The student should now experiment with a few 
simple arrangements: 

Take motif 6 and fill the free spaces with the second 
motif: 


YSV NN KYKYRY 
Instead of circles, half-circles (motif 3) may be used: 
EOONENONGS 
UGG 
Es Oi, a alr 


The fifth motif also makes an excellent basis for 
border design. Add dots or circles in the free spaces: 


1\IVIVAV BMMPMVE 


4 CREATIVE DE Sia 


Now try the half-circle (motif 3) in a series like a letter 
M, and also use the circle in the spaces left. 


“VV VVYVN YoYoYo YoYo’ 


Naturally we can use these motifs in all their pos- 
sible shapes, making them more open or close together, 
as it may best suit each scheme. The half-circles may 
be used in succession in a condensed arrangement (A) 
as well as in the following open arrangement (B). 


A B 


The same for the wavy line, or the zigzag, or for 
the S motif. 


AGON Sam 


BORDERS F 


It is obvious that if we only developed the few bor- 
ders here demonstrated, we should already have an 
immense variety. The first, of the wavy lines and 
circles, Fig. A, in a closer arrangement would be Fig. B 
and the second, of zigzags and circles, in the same way 
would be Fig. C and the third of the S motif would be 
Fig. D and Fig. E. 


0)(9)(0) (0) (O 
on oe IOOC 


A B 


° re) 2) OAOAO, 
a /VoVo 


C 


DEr~2 HOO VIIA 


D E 


Thus we see how simple it is to do those borders and 
we will now try to elaborate them, combining as many 
motifs as possible in making designs. 

Start with the first arrangement of wavy lines and 
circles, following it with other motifs, and so on with 
the others as tried before. 


6 CREATIVE DESig 


It cannot be too strongly emphasized at this point, 
that a mere reading or even attentive study of this 
method will not yield the best results. Only actual 
practice with original combinations of the motifs will 
give the necessary training of the hand and the release 
of true creative power. 

An infinite number of combinations are possible 
with the seven motifs and the student should try to 
exhaust all that his imagination suggests to him. The 
examples here given (in this instance, all constructed 
on the wavy line as a base) are not to be copied 
exactly; they are merely illustrations of some of the 
combinations, and from these many more may be 
developed. 


ISLAY DOO 


ORISA AY 
YY YNa 


RASR Rey Hw 
DEY SSS 


le (OMRCIDM Oats 7) 


For the beginner, a practical method for building 
border designs is the following process. First think of 
a steady rhythm or beat, either slow or fast, and then 
indicate on paper by means of a series of dots, the 
actual intervals of the beat, thus: 


Then select the basic motif of the proposed border 
and adapt it to the given rhythm: 


By adding other motifs in an arrangement harmonizing 
with this given rhythm, the border is developed. 


This method, from this point on, is divided into 
progressive lessons. The student should be careful not 
to advance beyond any lesson before he has mastered 
what has gone before. 


CREATIVE DES 


The following are further examples of borders show- 
ing the combination of all the motifs: 


8 


asa ARR SSS 
(YYY Y\ GCROFO 
DALAL ae 


ee | Som a 
YWYY BODOG 


Udllley SEA SSS 


BORDERS ° 
LBOWERX29VDIDOD LLLLL. ©:©:@: 
REEBE THON SSSSS 
==—=— Ed @ O10 OAD 


Wee E@FOEC 9999. BAS 
KW CLE BB PIP. 


ene 


MTs Ses, 


RAGA S@S288 DEEZ RRA 


wan TES WSC OY 
TATA, & , one 4 5° Brel 
SS 2D TOS ADA 


IO CREATIVE DEisiiaas 


In designing borders, the student should feel the 
major movement of rhythm and harmony underlying 
the design he draws. Borders must move forward, and 
grow as they move. This movement will be obtained 
by choosing one motif from among the seven and 
building on that, adding other motifs the design may 
require as secondary decoration supporting the central 
one. The single ruling motif of the border is called 
the dominant, and the complementary one the sub- 
ordinate. 

Dominant. 


i 


Spirals are the Subordinate. 
~9 —~9 
Oa aa 


This continuous suggestion of movement in a definite 
direction is enhanced by the tangential junction of the 
subordinate motif, which always springs from the dom- 
inant motif in the forward direction of the movement. 


LO 


PomlOoNS OF THE MOTIFS 11 


3. POSITIONS OF THE MOTIFS 


There are four basic positions to be observed in draw- 
ing the seven motifs: 

1. Horizontal position: Draw the motifs in a con- 
tinuous forward line. 


Cea 2000000 CLLR LL 
PALANAN WV WET Csi: 


2. Vertical position: Draw the motifs up and down. 


60000000 


3. Right-hand oblique: Draw the motifs to the 
right. 


fa 


12 CREATIVE DESiGa 
4. Left-hand oblique: Draw the motifs to the left. 


“ii. 


In drawing the motifs, follow these four general 
positions either in the single line or parallel. 


4. ROSETTES AND FLOWERS — (full view) 


Oo) 


Now that we are able to draw designs of elaborate 
borders, let us see how they may be used for a different 
purpose; we are going to draw rosettes and flower 
shapes by using the borders already designed. First 
draw a circle. (It does not matter if it is not perfect 
for flowers are not perfectly round). Then pick up some 
simple border, any one will do, but since it is for a 
flower, we suggest taking one with the shape of petals 
(like the one of half-circles and circles (Fig. A) and draw 
it around the circle, instead of forward in a straight 
line A second row can be drawn inside of the circle 
and the center filled with scrolls or dots (Fig. B). An 


ROSETTES AND FLOWERS 33 


infinite variety of rosettes and flowers can be designed, 
depending on the borders used and the invention of the 


student in their arrangement. 


[4 CREATIVE DESt@ss 


5.. ALL-OVER PATTERNS 


We will now give a few suggestions for arrangements 
of all-over patterns, which can be used to represent the 
centers of the flowers. This all-over pattern is disposed 
on a plaid distribution and we will, accordingly, draw 
first a rough sketch of a plaid design: 


APE-OVER PATTERNS IS 


The motifs should be placed at the crossings of the 
lines so as to give an even distribution (Fig. A), or in 
alternating arrangement (Fig. B). Any of the simple 
motifs may also be used in the spaces (Figs. C & D) 
after which, the guiding lines should be erased. 


o@ 
=> 
oe 


6- 
: 


~ = aoe 
= 


6 


rake 
©0- 
o 
6 


: 
© 
a 
6. 


® t) j J 
e Ne ps2. \ .-+ oa | canal @ oe aaa de 
. aone | ’ —)_ ry ’ 
MPS hs ek yon. lk 
Stee oy so I Aol potas eaten tae aa 
‘ \ exam | ' \° ai ‘ eo! | 
; ‘TI i= |[f. € leu ay: 
Rees! st leg tet 
\ | = @ ; @! 
' au» | oH { le I e ' 
=} a a acd Bera Ey ee LR 2 pe —~p--t- 
e \ ) § ’ ’ 
: 4 
C D 


The following page gives a few suggestions for all- 
over patterns. 


16 CREATIVE DESI 
WZ RQ oe 90 


ee #F on 


SSS) ee 
recs NEN Ralies 
Sl, MES © @ » 
GS POP OTT a1 1) 0 |—-|ostea o 
ee eo te SE 

ee 
lo : \\l 


eee ow ER PATTERNS 17) 


All the numberless combinations that can be made 
with the seven motifs are divided into two distinct 
groups of expression. The first expresses quiet, repose, 
balance, and is called Static arrangement. The second 
expresses movement, development, growth, a breathing 
quality, and is called Dynamic arrangement. 

To the first group belongs the all-over design which 
gives a restful feeling of stillness. The motifs are 
balanced against each other in a pattern, and spread 
evenly over a surface. 


uitsiay 
REED =< 
Ca 


Static Arrangement: | a | 


The second group includes borders and frets in which 
there is a feeling of movement. In all of them the eye 
feels the necessity of following the lines. 


ul 
iit 


Dynamic Arrangement: 


Usually, motion is represented and felt as running 


from left to right. 
When lines join as forces, they join in the direction 
of the movement of the border. 


ae 


PAR Aaa 


6. GROWTH 


All branches, flowers, and leaves follow a principle of 
design in nature that we call growth. In growth, a 
series of leaves or flowers increase or diminish evenly 
and harmonically along a stem. To design a fern-frond, 
for example, draw the curved central vein, with deep 
half-circles beginning at the base and tapering gradually 
to a point at each side of the tip. 

The lilies of the valley shown below illustrate this 
principle of growth. 


tte 


Observe that all branches, stems, and flowers spring 
out in an upward-slanting curve. This is called Tan- 


gential Growth. 
18 


GROWTH 19 


This can be done in symmetrical arrangement, or 
alternating. 


Symmetrical Alternating 


f 


The character of a border consists in steady repeti- 
tion of motifs which create the rhythm; this even 
repetition in a rhythm is called continuous growth. 
The harmony of the whole depends on the right selec- 
tion and arrangement of the component motifs. The 
back-ground is called space. 

Growth being, as we have said, the harmonious 
repetition of the same form in an augmenting or 
diminishing proportion (Fig. 1), we find in nature the 


(wed) 


ite Ge 


combined manifestation of growth and tangential junc- 
tion in symmetrical or alternate arrangements, in 
branches, leaves and flowers. [Fig. 2, see next page. | 


20 CREATIVE DEsiga 


DUR Ree 
Kéc« KR Case 


Also in structures, buildings, and perspective: 


P preg 


oy ino LN PROFILE ot 


7. FLOWERS — (in profile) 


A flower in profile is made by drawing a round 
flower, divided in the center: 


To this half-circle add the shape of a flower seen from 


the side: 


And complete with a few scrolls: 

y | : 
All the following examples from early American designs 
of conventional flowers are an aid in understanding the 
possibilities for creating new combinations which are 


endless and a few suggestions will be found on the next 
page. 


Erase half of it: 


ee ALV. ICS xe) 


8. LEAVES 


Add leaves and stems to the flowers. To make a 
simple leaf, draw two half-circles joined at one end in an 
almond shape, and for the scalloped edges add small 
half-circles or zigzags. 


— > 


To complete, draw a straight line down the center, 
with other small straight lines slanting upward at the 
side, to suggest the veins of the leaf. 


QD S 


Practise drawing a great many kinds of leaves, using 
some of these as suggestions. 


wy SS & 


24. CREATIVE DES 


In the following examples most of the leaves have been 
drawn using the seven motifs in growth arrangement. 


STEMS 26 


Q. STEMS 
The stems of flowers or fruits are designed with two 


parallel lines, and one motif between these two lines 
will add to the decoration. 


Lief 


Thorns are designed with the motifs outside the lines 


of the stem. 
Wheat ears are very easy to draw: 


EES 
> 
‘“‘ 


26 CREATIVE DESiGs 


Flowers may also be designed very simply in a great 
variety of ways. 


WAAL Ae 


VRPRRRPS SLITS 


FEOWER COMPOSITIONS ay, 


10. FLOWER COMPOSITIONS 


Put these designs together in the natural order, and 
the result is a composition of flower, stem, and leaves: 


It is now time to begin making a few flower compo- 
sitions. The first one must be very simple. First draw 
lightly an outline of circles and curved lines as a guide 
to the blossoms and stems. Fill in with petals and 
leaves: 


28 CREATIVE DESi@e 


A flower composition in thin light lines: 


& 2 <yeT 


4A Se 
SMAAK ANS 


Design with light and heavy lines. Draw the thin 
lines first, and fill in the black spaces with heavy thick 
strokes: 


Note: These designs as well as 
that on page 20 are adapted from * 


fevk EIT 


oe eRe LES AND DRAGON FLIES 


The conventionalized butterfly may be easily formed 
out of two flower shapes in profile. 


GOG 


Put the body in the center. The antennz are repre- 
sented by scrolls, and the eyes by small dots or circles. 


With a few variations, all kinds of butterflies may be 
drawn on this general design. 


30 CREATIVE: Distt 


Butterflies in profile: 


The dragon fly has a long body shaped like a shallow 
S motif, drawn in parallel with decorations between. 
The wings are leaf-shaped, but decorated differently, 
with two small circles for eyes. The student should 
develop his own ideas for decoration. 


tebe AND BOWKNOTS 31 


I2. RIBBONS AND BOWKNOTS 


The ribbon and the bowknot are familiar traditional 
designs in early American art. 

The simplest ribbon is made of two 5 motifs drawn 
in parallel, with a single zigzag at either end; or with 
the ends of the S motifs joined; also combined with 
wavy lines. 


+ 


There are many other combinations: 


Re Nari 


Phe 


ate CREATIVE DESIGN 


Draw the center of the bowknot first. Make a circle 
with an 5 in it: 

Add two irregular, double half-circles on each side. 

Design other shapes of bows, using any of the ex- 
amples shown above, as in these suggestions. 


9D FE FS 


For a flower composition tied with a bowknot, 
sketch another small outline. Let the stems show 
clearly, and tie the bowknot around them. 

Butterflies and dragon flies hovering about the 
flowers, may be added wherever they seem to belong. 


Take care that in these designs, as in all others drawn 
by this method, every flower, leaf, stem, ribbon or band 
is shown completely. Never draw one object partly 
hidden or covered by another. Flowers must be full 
face or flat profile. No perspective. 


Bios KE TS 33 


13. BASKETS 


The basket is a widely used motif in nearly all 
decorative compositions containing flowers. 

For a very simple basket design, draw a straight or 
slightly curved line for the upper rim, and a correspond- 
ing line for the base; 


Two half-circles on the sides will complete the outline. 


VT wol 


CREATIVE DESTGs 


Suggest the weaving of the basket with an all-over 
pattern; or a simple plaid. 


Avit | Swe 

i—t——s lait= 
—t~1 = =usl 
i—t— (tale 


The rim and base, as well as the handle, may be done 
with an S line used as conventionalized cord. 


SSS 


There may be handles at the top or sides. 
Make the side handles with simple double S lines. 


7 
WE 
1 


34 


BASKETS 38 


Fill the basket with flowers following the lines of 
construction. 


Experiment with these basket shapes, adding flowers 
to harmonize with their structures in the same way 
that the bunch of flowers was done. 


PART LV 


I4. VASES, PITCHERS AND URNS 


The outline of a jar reduced to its simplest elements 
consists of two motifs: a circle for the center, and 
shallow half-circles in basket shape, one for the mouth 
of the jar, and an inverted one for the base. 

The handles may be in the S line shape with the ends 
curling inward toward a spiral. 

For a pitcher vary the shape of the neck, and add one 


BS 


A study of these shapes will suggest further original 
variations. 


$9 GS 


Weert CHEERS AND URNS 37 


The typical urn consists of a half-circle for the body 
and a smaller inverted half-circle for the base. Add a 
circle to join these two, with an inverted basket shape 
and two shallow half-circles joined to form the mouth. 
The handles may be similar to those on the vases. 


This is a very typical motif of ornamentation used 
in the past century in which this and many other 
classic forms were developed from the Greek. The 
same structure, in elongated form, may be used in 
design as balustrade or column. 


38 CREATIVE DESIGN 


I5. FRUITS 


In drawing fruits, study the use of motifs in borders 
or all-over patterns. The repetition of a single motif 
often gives the most decorative effect. 


Previel COMPOST RIONS 39 


There are many ways of using different motifs and 
patterns to draw the same fruit. Taking these two 
pineapples as examples, try drawing the fruits shown 
above with different borders and all-over patterns. 


16. FRUIT COMPOSITIONS 


A fruit dish is designed in the same way as the lower 
half of an urn. Or else the student may use one of 
the baskets he has already drawn, and fill it with fruits 
and leaves in this way: Other suggestions for fruit 


dishes: 


40 CREATIVE DE oii 


AN a == 
> “Bae 


, 


A cornucopia, or “‘horn of plenty,” is very decora- 
tive, and seems elaborate, but on examination it is 
quite simple: 

For the outline, draw a circle for the mouth, an S 
line on the side, and a half-circle from the center, 
running up to join the S line in a peak, for the horn. 
Then with a series of S lines beginning at the top of the 
peak and growing longer towards the base, twist the 
horn into a whirl. When the cornucopia is filled with 
fruits, only the upper half of the opening must show. 
Finish this edge with the same S$ line border that is 
used on the basket rims. 


GARLANDS 41 


I7. GARLANDS 


The foundation of the garland is a festoon made of 
two shallow half-circles. 


For a more decorative garland, drop a deep half-circle 
between each festoon, or loop. 


4) I 


Begin with a single loop, and sketch in the pattern 
for flowers or fruits. 


OC 
OC 
O 


Suggestions for garlands: 


~S 
reac 
. \“ ck (P ( 
S ‘ (4 
4 Ee ®) 


cN AXA 


PAR Tey 


18. PLANTS AND EARTH 


Leafy shrubs and the foliage of tree branches are 
most simply represented by half-circles in succession. 
Half-circles with straight lines may represent a small 


bush: 


The zigzag line is useful in designing long pointed 
leaves, or long grass: 


NB Wy 


Groups of short straight lines in a semicircular ar- 
rangement suggest grass. An all-over pattern of these 
groups becomes a meadow: 


ww ov wv NY 


Avy VY SY 
Wi, walle NV 


ae =e OW 
42 


PLANTS AND EARTH 43 


There are many variations in the fern and palm leaf. 
Begin by drawing a curved line for the center of the 
leaf, and let the smaller fronds spring from it, diminish- 
ingtoapoint. (Fig.A.) Use the zigzag in acute angles, 
or half-circles in close arrangement. (Fig. B.) Fern 
leaves are made in much the same manner. (Fig. C.) 


}7 
\) wr > 


A 


Design a small, trunkless palm tree by joining several 
leaves together at the base. 


44 CREATIVE DESIGN 


Practise drawing these examples of plant-life shapes: 


\ 
\\ 
vt 


The surface of the earth is uneven, full of little hil- 
locks and depressions, which may be represented by an 
irregular line of S motifs and half-circles. 


pl Rakie les 45 


Fill in with a pattern of circles for stones, groups of 
straight lines for grass, and tiny dots, in reality small 
closed circles, for sand. 


= AWAVAYV GS 
TEE WA WA AWA 


TOs TREES 


The trunk of a tree must spread a little at the base, 
and again at the top where the branches of foliage 
begin. The roughness of the bark may be represented 
by an all-over pattern. 


46 CREATIVE DESI 


Examples of the use of the half-circle and the zigzag 
in drawing foliage: 


VEG ONS 47 


Draw the palm tree with a long trunk decorated 
with a border or all-over pattern, and let the fronds 
radiate from the top as they do in the short palms pic- 
tured among the small plantlife. | 


$ 


BEI 
WL 
OOD 


AA 
Hes BES3: 


48 CREATIVE DESIGN 


In the willow tree, all the branches droop, and the 
leaves spring from both sides: 


g AD a 
C, 71 a Wa 
‘ ” 
A\ & in Pies “) 
= 4 24 am’ ba Un 
an y \ AN In oo. t ND 
Ts 2 \\ A \' sx Nh, 
AG yy A YAN Jn ym, 8, 
y\ AN \ A \ ) \! 4 - 
,e aN fy \ f > Va CPE: 
7S gn YX Lf DUN MN AARC 
4 ‘\ x 5 AS DN aN hs a fa \ , aN Fi , 
xX ANG OS AY SAARA\ AR RB LN A AS 
am TN AN YN \ f a\ Vary AN Yn (YTD 
Y a AN fi 4S ut fre OR \ yp fh AW , 7) 
OR AX ie DAA ARR RRs N°: 
\K '- 9 ae aa 8 Po BAAR 
, 4\ (4 4 \ x } : (] 
Nina A \¢ NA RR A : AS ws 
\y, } " A, \ \ N £ 4 \ NG 
DIN ON DS a \INA A ARM RA AAR 
ffs y\ i,\ fos ‘SN YT] ( ne , , aN iN (iN , 4 n\ YN 
WwW ws AN U ly iY i ZN Al \ y 
Y ad \ 4 nn» A IX InN , 4 in 
1 a & “N 4,“ ’ VFA \ \ v a AN 
Vs 4 Ie ty i, * , ‘4, \ aN Ve LR ‘ 1) i. (j ys 
, : fin OR i’ eX Ny, AX oN a x \ f) a 
he BX YN 7 ( : Dp 4N 
S &A fay 1 
ot ts Ny 


20. WATER AND WAVES 


Still water is represented by parallel straight lines; 
moving water, by wavy lines, the wave being deepened 
to represent the degree of movement of the water. 


WATER AND WAVES 49 
Half-circles in succession give the feeling of shallow 
ripples: 


For heavier waves, draw the S line in succession, or 
the scroll: 


meee 


SSE ope 


To represent a marsh, combine water and grass 
alternately: 


Falling water: 


50 CREATIVE DESIGN 


21. FISH AND OCEAN PUAN TSUirs 


Two opposed 5 lines are used to design a fish. An 
all-over pattern of crossed lines suggests scales: 


or use the half-circles to design scales, and vary the fins 
and tail: 


Starfish and Shells: 


fees D OCEAN PLANT LIFE 51 


Ocean Plants: 


5 a 
0 


| 


PAR Tava 


fe gs Re 


In drawing a bird, consider the body as the core of 
the design. The flexible members, head, neck, wings, 
tail, and legs, are drawn separately, and the motion of 
the bird is determined by the placing of these separate 
parts on the body. 


The body is egg-shaped and mostly immobile. Move- 
ment depends on the placing of the head: 


G CS (= 


BER Ds ao 


and the position of the tail. The legs are a broken line. 


Note the different proportions of each particular 
bird, and their various characteristics on an identical 
basic structure 


CREATIVE (DES 


When both wings are shown they must not interfere 
with each other, but must be clearly separated: 


54 


55 


BIRDS 


Bird-shapes: 


56 CREATIVE DESIG@m 


23. COMPOSITION OF AMERICANS COs 
OF ARMS 


Note: These examples of 
traditional American art, as 
well as others which are re- 
produced in this book, are 
valuable to the student be- 
cause they show the use of 
the seven motifs in the build- 
ing of beautiful symbolic de- 
signs. The student should 
experiment as widely as pos- 
sible with similar composi- 
tions of his own. 


: ha ot 


M 
= CON 
« 


IS 
1F 
F 
SF 


i 


PART VII 


Z4. MOUNTAINS AND CLOUDS 


Mountains are drawn with the same lines used to 
represent shallow earth-surfaces, but with a deeper 
rise and fall of the curves. 


For cone-shaped hills and mountains use the zigzag. 


For clouds use half-circles, S lines, and scrolls. 


fee? SS 
> A, 


Sf 


58 CREATIVE DEStem 


25. SUN, MOON AND STARS 


To draw the sun and moon with human faces is a 
very ancient and beautiful fantasy of design: 


Moon, Stars, Lightning: 


Ss 
oN oe 


Flight of birds in all-over pattern: 


vw 
v 
vw ai 
Vv 
~ Vv vw 
nu” Vv 
vv vw 
vy iw rw 
~~ ™ wv“ i 
vv vv vv 
Val yw vv 
yy 


PART VIII 


27. HOUSES 


First draw the elementary lines of a house. The ad- 
dition of a side tower makes a church. 


A cottage with a 
fence around it and 
a small garden: 


P| | TITITILULLESUM EET 
Weave MESA 
UVCAUTOROBRARIDULALV RTL \Win! PTTL 


mn 
TYMITHTUELLUALLMLU LULL RADOLS 


HOWs Es 61 


American Colonial house: 


BOS OSS 0 S60 SENSO OO9 OLN O98 0.00 0908.9 th 


Ree 


0% 


A castle: 


A brick house: 


62 CREATIVE DES tGay 


Experiment with different types of houses: 


28. FENCES 


The house enclosed with a slight low fence, the field 
enclosed with wire, are familiar scenes in American 
village and country life: 


FENCES 63 


A few types of fences drawn with straight lines, or 
zigzag in rows: 


acdaad 
a ex | 


paseo 


/ 
Afar 


Kiosks and Pavilions: 


64 CREATIVE DEstGy 


29. SMOKE AND FLAGS 


The lines of smoke are the same as the lines of clouds, 
but in smoke the movement is more rapid, and in a 
definite direction, as if blown on the wind: 


For floating flags, use the ribbon design: 


A pennant: 


CUaR GE ASEN-S 65 
30. CURTAINS 
The curtain is a variation of the garland shapes 


already shown: 


TA. ma” OOO 
toest 2 PP aPragoas 
Tro y 3 


aedeay 
Sseeee 

Si~ sj Pesatowassss 
a8se: 


Geases 
. 


Tassel, made with circles, half-circles, and 5 lines: 
Cord with S lines: 


UUW 


Fringes: 


CREATIVE DESIGN 


66 


TYPICAL EARLY AMERICAN ORNAMENTS 


214 


Pent CAN ORNAMENTS 67 


Typical Early American Ornaments 


PAR Ps te 


32. ANIMALS 


All quadruped animal forms may be reduced in the 
beginning to one basic structure. It consists of two 
circles. Join these circles with two lines, as shown. 


OO Gas 


The position and movement of the animal depend on 
the placing of the neck, head, legs, and tail, as already 
noted in drawing birds: 


Observe the different ways in which the legs and head 
may be placed on the same body to alter the position 
and movement: 


Oa 


ht Ce 


ANIMALS 69 


On this same shape which has been transformed into 
a horse, change the tail and ears, draw long thin legs 
and add horns to represent a deer: 


Bo. 


Note how the same structure serves for widely 
different kinds of animals: 


CREATIVE DESIGN 
A few examples of animal design in very simple 


outlines: 


7O 


ANIMALS 


PARI 


33. THE HUMAN FIGURE 


The human body may also be divided into several 
parts which are, separately, very simple. It is better to 
begin this study, ordinarily rather difficult and com- 
plicated, by drawing only the most primitive outlines. 
The torso, or trunk, of the human figure resembles a 
basket standing on a circle: 


The torso: Mf : 
| Leg 


QI 


Arm Hands 
72 


THE HUMAN FIGURE 73 


Now draw the lines of the human body in whatever 
position desired, but simply, as children do. Try these 
dancing and running figures: 


See 


Now attach to them the separate parts shown above. 
Let the legs begin at a point in the center of the circle: 


. >. 
a: 


Outline of woman: Outline of man: 


74 CREATIVE \DEstaa 


The head: 


Head in front view, three-quarters, and profile: 


These heads are taken from early American orna- 
ments, but many other simple conventions may be 
used as well. Note that the line which forms the nose 
and the eye-brow is based on the S form. 


fetta UMAN FIGURE 75 


Parts of the face: eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair: 


@@ i. (.— ¢ 


“ g S* 


Try designing various other objects in combination 
with the human figure. For example: 


Ag 


76 CREATIVE “DES 


Examples of the human figure clothed and in com- 
bination with other objects: 


Peele X | 


34. COMPOSITION 


The student should experiment with combined de- 
signs containing the designs already learned. Note the 
composition below, which contains many elements in 
very condensed form: 


DESIGNS CUT IN PAPER 


For decorative arrangements on a flat background 
without perspective, the student will find that cutting 
paper silhouettes of his designs and pasting them on the 

77 


78 CREATIVE DESIGN 


background will greatly simplify the early problems of 
composition, and this procedure will prove very valu- 
able as training. 

Select a number of designs already familiar, such as 
birds, butterflies, or flowers: 


Cut them all about the same size, say three inches 
square, decide what size the composition shall be, and 
work on a flat surface. After the larger figures are 
placed, fill in with smaller bits of single designs. All- 
Over patterns may also be used. 


COMPOSITION 79 


This is an interesting way to practise composition, 
and the changes that suggest themselves to the student 
are more easily adaptable than they are in drawing. 

Do not consider either proportion or perspective at 
this stage. Place the figures where their shapes blend 
most harmoniously with each other and with the whole 
design. The effect should be similar to that of printed 
silks or cretonnes, in flat design on a plain background. 

Composition must be creative. Keep always in mind 
that original designing forbids a mere copying from life, 
and that the artist is not limited only to possibilities 
in Nature. In design, the artist is free to draw a 
butterfly larger than the tree it hovers over, or a bird 
and a house of equal size. It is only important that the 
finished composition be beautiful and right, the result 
of an honest mood and a careful plan. 

Preserve the spaces between each unit of the design; 
do not crowd or overlap them in any way. 


Crowded and incorrect spacing: 


Proper spacing: 


a 


80 CREATIVE Dist 


Having assembled a great number of subjects and 
elements to work with, the student will now be able to 
represent his ideas first in a simple decorative design. 

There are no fixed subjects to limit inspiration. The 
student is free to follow his imaginings into fantasy, 
dreams, legends or fairy tales, if he so chooses. He may 
record his impressions of actual life, of his surroundings, 
of street scenes, of the life of the city, the country and 
the seaside, either from actual view or from memory; 
and he should do this without regard to any pictures he 
may have seen of similar things. Let him rely on the 
method of design he is studying, and on his own in- 
dividual use of the things he knows and feels. 

The unit of a design has its individual value, cer- 
tainly, but the important consideration for the moment 
is harmony of composition. Whatever idea or emotion 
the student wishes to express should be contained 
within a limited number of elements of his own choos- 
ing; the important problem is then the way in which 
it goes into the picture, the form of its arrangement 
within a certain allotted space. 

In making his own compositions, the student has an 
opportunity to use all his previous training in an 
original way. A border or an all-over pattern already 
familiar may be very helpful as the skeleton of a new 
combination. 

Take for example a composition having as its subject 
a leaping rabbit. The rabbit leaps forward in long 
curves, and this is best suggested by the use of the 
wavy-line motif. 


POWEP Osi TON SI 


This motif has been drawn many times in previous 
lessons, combined with scrolls, circles, and other motifs. 
Thus, we may take the simple border as it stands and 
use a small part of it. 


The rabbit may be placed at any given point of this 
line, following its curves. 


Now choose which position the rabbit shall occupy, 
draw that part only of the curved line to the full size 
of the intended design, and arrange all the rest of the 
drawing in harmony with this ruling line. 


In case of designs built upon simple growth, not 
representing actual movement, but using for example, a 
shrub or tree, the same rule is applicable, not as motion 
but as growth. 


82 CREATIVE DE Sia 


Study the composition of the rabbit for its movement. 
Note that the effect of movement is dependent on a 
ruling line. This main line of the composition is called 
the dominant, and the supplementary parts are sub- 
ordinate. ‘The subordinate lines must never obtrude, 
they must support and be in complete harmony with 
the main line or lines. Adapt the leading unit or figure 
to the dominant line, and group the lesser ones in the 
order of their importance. 

If the dominant unit is to represent the movement of 


COMPOSITION 83 


a running animal or a flying bird, then the dominant 
line directs the orbit or path of the flying creature in its 
flight. This line is used in a very obvious way in the 
comic-supplement pictures, where a dotted line repre- 
sents the track of a look, a leap, or an object thrown in 
the air. 

To get a greater effect of movement, or swing, to the 
composition, the silhouettes which were used at first 
in the study of composition should now be cut in their 
separate parts, and their positions adapted to the re- 
quirements of the design, precisely as was done in 
drawing them. This method applies to everything from 
the human body to flowers, leaves, and stems. 

For example, cut the silhouette of a bird into all its 
parts: 


Sat CREATIVE? Dik Sai 


SPACE AND MASS COMPOSITION 


When working directly in areas instead of in lines, 
the background is as important as the mass of main 
design. 

In compositions which do not suggest motion, 
make nearly the same arrangement as for all-over 
patterns. The elements must cover the entire compo- 
sition in a true balance; draw the more important de- 
signs first, and fill in the spaces with the smaller ones, 
remembering always to leave some space around every 
object, whether large or small. They must not touch 
one another. This free space may be painted plain 
black, which makes a very decorative effect. 


Observe in the above composition how the darkened 
spaces between the units of design must also be con- 
sidered as masses necessary to the pure balance of the 
structure. Perfect structure cannot be achieved by 


COLOR 8c 


rules: the student must be guided by his natural sense 
of equilibrium. 

We have here given suggestions for the most simple 
methods of composition, but in time, the student will 
be able to plan other compositions, more complicated, 
which will be merely decorative and free representa- 
tions or illustrations of ideas of his own. 


oe COLOR 


Up to this point the work has been done with pencil, 
in black and white. The next step is to learn the use of 
color. 

The art of color is a study not to be dealt with here 
to a greater extent than is necessary to give the student 
a few hints, to stimulate his imagination, and allow him 
freedom for his own compositions without suggestions or 
the interference of special rules. Let each student de- 
velop his. individual feeling for color, for this is one of 
the most important aids to originality and honesty of 
expression. The student who perseveres and becomes 
an artist will naturally take up the intensive study of 
color as a part of his work. 

There are for the present no special rules for combin- 
ing colors. In this method the colors at first are never 
mixed. Use the pure shades as they come in the or- 
dinary school paint box, and try them in succession in 
all the combinations that occur to the color sense and 
are pleasant to the eye. 

Crayon is the simplest form of color to use, and 
younger students usually prefer it, but it is advisable 


86 CREATIVE DES ta 


also to learn from the beginning the easy use of brush 
and pen. For this reason they should be encouraged to 
work in water colors and India inks. 

For the trial of this new medium it will be well to 
repeat some of the designs already learned, such as 
rosettes and borders, in color outline. 

Begin with outlines in color, and progress gradually 
to full-color compositions with backgrounds. From this 
lesson on, the work should be as much as possible 
in color. 


elon LT 


36. PERSPECTIVE 


So far all objects and figures have been dealt with in 
flat profile, silhouette, or full front view, without refer- 
ence to their bottom or top surface. They will now be 
represented and described in perspective: not the 
usual perspective in art, with the receding lines con- 
verging to a point on the horizon, but a much simpler 
one. 

An object seen in front view from above naturally 
shows its upper surface, or, as with a cup, its inside 


surface. 
> > 


An object seen from below shows its base. 


ame 


Round objects such as vases and baskets which have 
previously been shown only in profile or silhouette are 
87 


88 CREATIVE DEStig 


now shown combining the profile outline with the top 
or base in perspective. 


og 


This method applies to round objects, but those 
having several sides must be drawn in perspective to 
show the right-side face, the left-side face, and either 
the top or the base, depending on whether the object 
is viewed from above or below. 


Three of their sides are thus actually visible, giving 
a full description of the subject and an idea of its 
volume. 


PERSPECTIVE 89 


Diagonal Y shaped lines are mainly used in perspec- 


tive. 


Following these simple rules, practise drawing in per- 
spective all the designs hitherto done only in flat 
surfaces. 


90 CREATIVE DESTGy 


37. DISTANCE 


The simplest way to represent distance is to diminish 
the size of objects as they recede one above another into 
the background. This sense of distance is obtained by 
drawing on planes. 

All the nearest objects are the largest in size, and 
appear together in the first row, or plane, at the bottom 


ptt BAC PTV. hh gI 


of the composition. The objects on the rising planes 
gradually diminish, keeping proportions among them- 
selves in the same plane. For example, a composition 
of tents and trees in perspective: 


Third row, background: fe INN 
Second row, middle distance: @ INS 


First row, foreground: 


Children, exactly as primitive man, always represent 
objects in the distance in the upper part of their 
designs and objects nearby in the lower. 


92 CREATIVE DESia 


38. SHADING 


The representation of depth and volume of objects is 
obtained by shading, that is, by distinguishing between 
different planes by an arrangement of light and dark. 
Darkness suggests depth in relation to the light, or 
outstanding parts. 

To impart volume and roundness to an object, begin 
the shading inside the outline of the figure, almost, but 
not quite, touching it. The shading should be very 
dark at the edges and grow lighter towards the centre. 
(Fig. A.) 

To suggest depth around a figure, shade very dark 
around the outline, then fading outwards. (Fig. B.) 

When objects have flat surfaces, emphasize the edge 
between two breaking planes with shading starting 
from the angles. (Fig. C.) 

Note that the vase in Fig. D is seen in perspective 
from above and that although its base is almost a 
circle in outline, an effect of its flatness and the relief 
of the stem are obtained by shading on both sides of 
the stem. 

In the fruits shown in Fig. E, observe that the 
apple is shown to be round by means of the circle of 
darkness which follows its contours, just within the 
outside line. 

This method of shading, not being a realistic repre- 
sentation of a direct light, is the simplest way to 
achieve the desired effect and gives the feeling of a 
diffused light. 


Behe UT 


39. MODERN SURROUNDINGS 


The student should observe the modern life about 
him, and draw what he sees reduced first to its utmost 


simplicity of expression. 


‘Choose whatever lies near at hand or catches the 
imagination. The list given here will suggest some of 
the numberless subjects to be found in actual sur- 
roundings, and the examples given will be helpful in 
working out the problems of perspective, of distance, 
of composition and simplification: 


Airplanes 

Amusement parks 

Automobiles 

Boats 

Bridges 

Building cranes 

Camping tents 

Casks 

Circus 

Cups 

Electrical appliances and 

machines such as: 

Electric bulbs 


Radio set and wire coils 


Radio towers 
Telephones 
Trolley cars 
Engines: Railway locomo- 
tives and fire engines 
Factories 
Flags 
Household objects 
Public buildings 
Ships 
Skyscrapers 
Theaters 
UG eetc: 


95 


96 CREATIVE DESI 


VAVAV 
LO WM JV 
geiiteaaen 


MODERN SURROUNDINGS o7 


WY 


QB 
y , Bie? S= 
EEO 


L695 J 
eos 


98 


CREATIVE DESTO® 


MODERN SURROUNDINGS 99 


Beer |i l pe 


100 CREATIVE DESI 


IOI 


MODERN SURROUNDINGS 


CREATIVE DESIGN 


Va 


RE AE Lil [1 
PSPS PA AALS | 
XY NRO 


LS CG wet 
mod _—_—_—_s: 


8 


103 


MODERN SURROUNDINGS 


il 


RRT 
7.5% 


(R) 
Oy 


0-04 


i" =| 
Mees 
Sao 8 Sot 
€<8 HHeT mas 


(a= 


Oo 


CREATIVE DE 


104 


Smo N SURROUNDINGS = 105 


It must be remembered that the beauty of most 
modern forms is the result of the exigencies of their 


106 CREATIVE DEStaay 


use. It is the result of the quality and texture of 
materials, the fitness of their application and the necessi- 
ties which determine their form rather than of any de- 
liberate striving for ornamentation or so-called “‘artistic 
forms.” For this reason, many of our modern sur- 
roundings have much of the quality of primitive art 
and as such furnish us with new examples of the old 
forms adapted to a new culture and a new conception. 
The use of the arrow in modern design is a good example 
of this development, as the accompanying drawings 
will illustrate. 

This method for design, the first part of which ends 
here, has thus far been concerned only with the simplest 
exposition of the rules and principles to be followed, 
and as such it can be used by all elementary students 
of the art of design. The second part, addressed to 
teachers and advanced students, is the explanation, in 
greatly compressed form, of the main theories underly- 
ing and justifying the method. In other words, the 
first part shows how things are done and effects are 
achieved; the second part explains why they are so done. 


BOOK II 
Poel VE IMAGINATION 


sew RodE Eal 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE IMAGINATION 


The particular aim of this system of design is to pro- 
vide a simplified method of graphic art for the expres- 
sion of ideas and emotions, to help the student to avoid 
meaningless effort and waste of vital energy from the 
beginning, and above all to set him on the way to 
solving his own problems. Its happiest feature is 
the simplicity and rapidity with which it removes 
obstacles, and gives the student a sense of progression 
from his first attempt to draw. ‘This is because it 
is a stimulant to the imagination and to the creative 
forces rather than a textbook of exercises. The aim 
is to establish at once an understanding of the funda- 
mental laws of order, growth, rhythm, harmony, and 
balance, to which all life is subject, progressing gradu- 
ally to less abstract forms, with a study of simple, gen- 
eral designs, inspired by nature, but conventionalized 
by many generations of human expression. 

In training a child, then, the first step 1s to free him 
from timidity by means of a flexible craftsmanship, 
in order that the expansion of his ideas may be en- 
couraged by perfect command of method. On this 
foundation he builds up his own style, his inner point 
of view, and evolves, through his own experience, into 
an individual capable of finding his proper material 
and making the fullest use of it. 

109 


110 CREATIVE DESI 


These suggestions for the more important forms of 
traditional design will provide the student with a 
knowledge of the essential forms of expression of the 
past. Let him recognize that this must be his starting 
point, from which he may enter into a whole new world 
of fresh endeavor. He must at first use the suggestion 
of old form to clothe the new concept, until he is able 
to create forms of his own. 

All popular expressions of art are the fruit of a collec- 
tive ideal; national collectivity is necessary before there 
can be unity in the national art. In the future, popular 
arts will gradually become conscious: it is not enough 
to know that certain things are done in certain ways, 
the members of the group will demand to know also 
why they are done that way. A knowledge of form and 
a solid technical equipment are the first requisites for 
any work in the arts; add to this, understanding of 
the origin and meaning of form and technique, and the 
way is cleared for true creativeness. 

All good work in art originates in a lively and 
vigorous imagination working with freedom from 
prejudice and with a spontaneity gained from the 
liberated play impulse. This enthusiasm and pleasure 
give warmth to creation, which is guided and attained 
by intuition. It is the boast of certain kinds of artists 
that they do not know how they get their results — 
that they are driven by what they call “inspiration.” 
True art, however, has to be conscious, otherwise it 
lacks those necessary qualities of high sincerity and 
the expression of a feeling, accurately defined and — 
clearly understood. Such art can be produced only by 
those who have full control over their creative impulse 
and who act always with a clear comprehension of its — 
causes. On the other hand, complete sincerity in ex- 


GREATIVE IMAGINATION 111 


pression may also be attained by the savage, acting in 
absolute unconsciousness and guided only by mere 
instinct. 

The work of art may show these qualities in two 
ways: at the one extreme stands the primitive, or the 
child, ignorant, even, that art exists, and expressing 
himself in artistic creation without prejudice or knowl- 
edge and acting purely under the guidance of instinct; 
at the other extreme, is the highly civilized man whose 
expression is impelled by neither prejudice nor uncerti- 
tude, because he knows and is master of his knowledge. 
Between these are the stages of struggle, development, 
experimentation and experience until sufficient knowl- 
edge has been attained to allow for complete conscious- 
ness and freedom of action. The primitive method 
may be called instinctive or emotional, the civilized 
either intuitive or conscious. 

_ The failure of this high faculty of reason limits the 
peasant arts. The uncultured artist-craftsmen of all 
times followed their instinctive processes: they created 
unconsciously from the heart, with tenderness and 
naiveté, and the appeal of their work is limited to the 
heart. They gave unreasoning response to their feel- 
ings, governed by their immediate needs and the limita- 
tions of their environment. That their motifs of decora- 
tion could be analyzed, that their work was ruled by 
certain laws, never occurred to them. No matter how 
touching their art may be asa record of human aspira- 
tion, it is not a complete art because it lacks the quality 
of the higher expression, the quality of being conscious. 

In art, as in all other manifestations of the human 
spirit, our mind grows steadily more conscious, in this 
enlightened sense, more critical in its use of traditional 
materials, more analytical for the sake of a fuller un- 


112 CREATIVE DESti 


derstanding: emotion is not the master, but the ally of 
intelligence. This makes a balance. It is all very well 
to feel rhythm, harmony, growth, but feeling will carry 
the artist only a certain distance. ‘These instincts are 
shared in some degree by every living thing. With- 
out knowledge of the principles ruling these instincts, 
it is impossible to reach the fullest degree of creativeness. 

When we consider human development, it is clear 
that for thousands of years the unconscious goal of 
mankind has been to give plastic shape to its emotions 
and concepts. This prolonged, blind, and diffused effort 
has created many forms of art, all of which evince a sim- 
ilar striving: the will to express beauty (rhythm, har- 
mony, order, etc.), that sense of beauty common to all 
races and times, however varied the surface forms it may 
assume. In all ages, the artist has taken hold of the 
idea of his time, wrought upon it all imaginable shapes 
and passed it on to the succeeding generation as in- 
destructible evidence of the true nature of his times. 

The growth of this evidence corresponds intimately 
with the development of all human perception: as the 
perceptions grow more keen and subtle, man gains a 
more luminous knowledge of his ideas; as the ideas in- 
crease, he gives them surer definitions. Through study 
of the primitive arts we can trace the long course of 
this growth, thereby comprehending with more sym- 
pathy this clarifying process of the human spirit. The 
best guide for our own experiments is this understand- 
ing of the law ruling the creative impulse of the primi- 
tive. For basically it rules us also, and will command 
the future. We must choose either to abide by it or to 
disperse our energies without profit. 

It is the intention of this method of teaching graphic 
art to return to the sources, to begin with basic symbols, 


Spee VE [MAGINA-TION (113 


and little by little to establish in the mind of the 
student his own sense of, and his kinship with, these 
laws: he is the natural heir of all the stored wisdom 
accumulated in Time, and he can better use his herit- 
age if he knows its boundaries. For the child and the 
novice in art, it is a new approach to the past, a more 
personal way of appreciating his own formula. He ts 
a composite product, a present projection of an endless 
tradition: on his present possession he must build up 
his future. The past is an apparently formless body, 
carrying in it all that we are, our knowledge and ex- 
perience, and all that we may draw upon to strengthen 
our own contribution to the present. 

This knowledge of art is one of the keys to the 
mastery of life, a consciousness that is beyond mere 
sophistication. Children should be early persuaded 
not to confound creative art with mere realism, but to 
identify it as reality; to recognize it as a special, en- 
lightened way of seeing and defining; and this way 
must be their own, not imitations and copies of the 
visions of others. 

In the usual method of teaching design, the child is 
started too far along a road which is never his own; 
he does not begin at the beginning. By this method we 
are careful to provide the pupil with only the materials 
and suggestions necessary to stimulate him to discover- 
ies of his own. By putting him in the proper environ- 
ment and giving him the general principles, we help him 
to find his way through his own experience, the only 
experience he can possibly use to any fruitful end. 

This method is thus in harmony with the true ideal of 
pedagogy, which aims to provide a synthesis of human 
experience in the realm of ideas, and its results as they 
are visible in the culture of the present. This should 


114 CREATIVE DESi 


be accomplished with the least expenditure of effort, 
while developing the student’s energies and enthusiasms 
for use in his further explorations. This textbook is de- 
signed to rouse in the student his natural desire for par- 
ticipation, for creaticn and discovery in the limitless 
world of art. By its simplicity it hopes to forestall self- 
consciousness. A child, a student, should be a pioneer, 
an adventurer in life, and he will be, if only his young 
curiosities are not early smothered with artificial for- 
mulas, the workings of his imagination not curbed by 
fixed rules. 

The manner of approach to art is common to primi- 
tive peoples, to children, and to beginners in the art of 
design. Especially in the case of the child, we find that 
a sophisticated design will confuse him, or fail to interest 
him. For this reason it is fatal to burden the novice 
with the task of literal copying from objects. He is lost 
in the struggle with sophisticated form, volume, per- 
spective. Given a few principles and left to himself, he 
starts more simply. Huis first drawings are flat, primi-_ 
tive, naive, alien to some persons with a fastidiously 
cultivated eye, if you like, but they have a beauty of 
their own, because they are right for him, it is the seed 
that will grow. He must pass through that stage 
precisely as he must cut his teeth, before he is prepared 
for any further advancement. 

It is useful for him to learn early that there are 
seven basic motifs underlying all forms of art, and 
that these symbols are the shapes of primitive expres- 
sions of art. Once he learns the fundamental represen- 
tations shared by all animal-shapes on earth, among 
all animals in their kind, all tree-shapes in theirs, all 
earth-shapes, he will have disposed of his first great 
problem, of seeing clearly into the core of the forms of 


tere! VE IMAGINATION tts 


representation. Having got the structure straight in 
his mind, the way he covers it is his own affair. 

Art should be a social function, a collective popular 
expression. In proportion as it becomes a part of every- 
day life, the concern of everybody, it grows in meaning 
and power. In China, in Greece, in Egypt, and other 
countries where there has been a vast underswell of pop- 
ular art, we find the most profound expression of a 
genuine national culture. This culture consists of 
numberless elements brought together and fused by 
the fire of national consciousness; without this con- 
sciousness art loses its character, or, rather, fails to 
develop one, and remains untempered and lifeless. 

In the Americas, this welding process has been going 
on for almost three hundred years. It took some time 
for the imported elements to acclimatize, before they 
could begin to mingle with each other. Surely more 
diverse cultures were never brought together than in 
this new world. The old native Indian civilizations of 
Mexico, Central and South America, the Spanish, the 
Negro, the later infusion of English, Dutch and French, 
the trade with China and the Indies, the fairly recent 
addition of large numbers of peoples from all the races 
of the earth, make for such a mingling of cultures as 
only time can unify when they are all wrought together 
into the same ideal. 

In this country there are recognizable manifesta- 
tions in architecture, in painting, in music, in dancing, 
in the theater, a definite point of view and method of 
projection which: are identifiably American. It is not 
yet a thorough blend, its essentials remain unclassified, 
its characteristics are not clearly outlined. This will 
come with time. The conditions are ripening for the 
creation of a distinctly American art, something fresh 


116 CREATIVE DES Tags 


and unique that will come to life out of all this mass of 
traditional tendencies and new materials diverted into 
new fields. The foundations of all new cultures are 
borrowed, usually from the nearest neighbor, and be- 
cause America was discovered at the beginning of an 
era of world travel and easy communication between 
widely separated countries, her borrowings have been 
free and varied beyond all precedent. This makes a 
complex problem and many apparently irreconcilable 
elements must yet be reconciled. A remarkably 
generous, broad and plastic culture is promised from 
all this, for already there is a pattern discernible on the 
surface. 

When the student realises his possibilities and his 
preferences he will focus his efforts on a certain ideal 
of achievement. The ideal of most American students 
is to achieve a genuine expression of American art. 
As we have said, there are already some remarkable 
expressions of this American spirit, in architecture and 
the graphic arts and other forms, but there is no defini- 
tive outline or form that can be called pure American 
as yet. 

This genuine American expression can only grow out 
of the sincere feelings of the people from the mo- 
ment they give up influences from without and the 
imitation of foreign expressions. For this enterprise 
they must use all the genuine American elements that 
now exist, all modern American surroundings, as well 
as all the traditional, well defined American forms. 
These forms are often found to be purest in the simple 
objects, such as furniture, porcelains, hooked rugs, 
embroideries, and other simple manifestations of a 
popular art. 

The American artists themselves must work out the 


Serer VE IMAGINATION § 117 


evolution of traditional elements into a form expressive 
of modern feeling and the requirements of modern 
life; the northern spirit has its own feeling for color, 
for form, its own special rhythm, and by keeping faith 
with his own impulses regarding these things, the 
American artist will create in time an art of his own 
country, which is the art of the people. 

~ We believe that artistic intuition isauniversal gift, but 
very few are encouraged to use it. This conception of 
the universality of the human gift of expression is the 
basis of modern teaching in all the arts. Simplified 
methods of teaching music, dancing, painting, etc. will 
testify to man’s new faith in himself as the instrument 
of beauty. It is the province of the teacher to build up 
and fortify this faith in the individual. The untrained 
hand has at first an easy victory over the struggling 
imagination, and the first work done may show poor 
technique and little skill. Without a little help the 
student may grow discouraged. Therefore it is 1m- 
portant that the first lessons shall be so simple as to be 
easy for even the smallest child. The conception is the 
important thing, and the student must be encouraged 
to rely on his own idea, to have faith enough in it to 
sustain him through the period of probation to the 
medium of his art. 

In adopting this method, the student who has had 
previous training will probably find his situation almost 
reversed. If he is able to free himself of preconceptions, 
begin to work in a spirit of play, of honest experiment, 
with the sincerity of a child, he will find not only a 
source of refreshment for his imagination, but added 
technical training and a widened field of vision. 


118 CREATIVE DEST 


As we can see in the different expressions of Art in 
different periods and among different peoples, there 
are two main tendencies corresponding to the different 
states of evolution and the temperament of the artist. 
They are the naturalistic, in which nature is visualized 
and the representation is of what we see in nature; and 
the conceptual in which the representation is of what 
we think of nature. Both methods are also found in 
combination. In contemporary academic art much has 
been done in naturalistic representation, but little in 
conceptual. In this method we give the guides for learn- 
ing first how to think about the form of things, correcting 
and revising our conceptual images by afterwards turn- 
ing to nature. Thus the perceptual and conceptual 
views are wrought into each other in an intelligent and 
conscious way, necessary to the perfect form of repre- 
sentation. 

There are three main approaches to form: the tradi- 
tional, which reverences the past or the work of other 
artists; the realistic, which believes in photographic 
literalism; and the individual, free approach, which 
insists on recording things through the medium of a 
personal creation. 

The follower of tradition obeys rules laid down, and 
clings to a style of expression already accepted. 

The realistic school may also work in traditional 
ways, but it is closer to the outside aspect of things, 
and sets down a literal record of actual life. If our 
aim is to express exactitude in matters of anatomy, or 
machinery, or the precise shapes of mineral, vegetable 
or animal life, then we go to nature, or even to books 
about machinery, zoology, anatomy, or botany, and 
so get complete details of forms and structures. 

The creative way follows a free impulse in an effort 


weet tl VE [IMAGINATION § 119 


to express feelings, to give shape to emotions and ideas. 
Here the individual uses everything that he finds 
useful and desirable. He will use them as a base for 
his symbols to suggest his concept, and create new 
forms of his own out of them. 

It is well to experiment with everything; much 
exercise in the three approaches to free expression 
develops a knowledge of forms. It gives strength to 
creative power and a sense of selection. Practise in 
both the traditional and the realistic manner bring 
knowledge and experience on which to base our future 
creations. 

The traditional is an example, and the realistic is 
a firm base. ‘Together they furnish much material 
that can be seen afresh, and newly felt, and so given 
new life and a more perfect form. If we wish to ex- 
press an emotion through the form of a flower, it is 
necessary first to know what a flower is, how it 1s built, 
and of what it is composed; and it is also well to know 
how all artists have looked at flowers, and how they 
have felt about them; and it is important to know the 
conventions of flower representations, and the simplified 
forms to which they have been reduced. 

This will give the beginning artist a store of forms 
and possibilities on which to base his experiments and 
work out his own individual mode of expression and 
use of symbols. New art is merely the old forms 
selected and corrected by the light of a new imagina-_ 
tion, and thereby further illuminated. 

When studying borders and frets, a little while ago, 
the motifs used in making them were chosen and 
arranged for form’s sake, and for abstract representa- 
tions of rhythm and harmony. 

The next step is to develop those abstractions into 


120 CREATIVE. DESIG 


symbols representing animals, plants, flowers and other 
forms. In this work the student may refer to all that 
has been said about composition, as regards masses 
and spaces; the simple lines may be turned into spaces 
representing units; and thus a circle may be made 
into a flower, a curved line may be used as a stem or 
the curved vein of a leaf. 


Oo 


Follow this example in the work of making a design 
of a unit. Select some of the borders already made, 
and develop them into a representation of leaves and 
flowers. 


O 
OY OGD Re) 


Then take only a part of the border and, using its 
leading lines, turn it into a representation of flower 
and leaves and solve the problem of masses and 


spaces. 
27 SEXS 


pe VE IMAGINATION | tor 


Then finish according to the individual feeling. 
Using a knowledge of form, it is possible to gain fresh 
inspiration from even the most classic form, say the 
Acanthus foliage equally with plants from nature, and 
by all these means arrive at the perfect form, personal to 
us, through which we may express our modern feeling. 


CREA TLON 


Often when moved to create, to express an emotion 
or idea through form, we have only a vague notion of 
how we wish to represent it. The best steps toward 
making an original drawing are as follows: 

Begin by sketching a line, or general movement which 
corresponds in an abstract way to the vague emotion 
oridea. This may be used as the back-bone of the form; 
it should be simple and intuitive, a mere suggestion 
of the form of the thing felt, which we want to represent. 
It will be much simplified if the student uses a broad 
adaptation of one of the seven motifs or a combina- 
tion of several, precisely as is done in making borders. 


eee oe 


122 CREATIVE DEs iG 


Using this line as a foundation, adapt the object or 
unit which represents your idea to it, build around it, 
and proceed with the composition of spaces from this 
center, or back-bone, outwards. After the desired form 
has been set down in a solid composition, finish with 
color or shading. 


a sree" 9 


~ 
nf é o 
Tm cd 
* C4 <4 
ae a ~y 
a? » | 
\ 
~s 
%, 
cause” %, >’ 
ze 


Of these three steps in creation, we may say that the 
first line, or back-bone, corresponds to our own inner 
idea or emotion, that the added units or figures sym- 
bolize them, and that the color and finish convey it to 
the observer, make it more comprehensible and 
interesting. [See also illustrations on page 177. | 

One who has the faculty of reducing his representa- 
tion of design, by lines, forms, masses and units, into 
a complete creation of his mental conceptions will 
give to the observer the impression that he desires. 


\ 
yr A Ad 
ry ’ A 14 a A 
wr eat fe ef 2! 
“/ a ee ofa 
t 4 eo” 2S 
a asm ¢ Basa 
i a> | 
af Dy ‘9 
af ’ 
a! 1 @ 
a ed 
‘i '@ f 


Mom IVE IMAGINATION — 123 


REPRESENTATION OF MOTION 


To give the sense of motion in a design, the repre- 
sentation of the object should be connected with its 
line of motion, orbit, track, or path, and should follow 
its motion in space. So when following such a design 
with the eye, it is possible to reconstruct this suggested 
line, and feel the object in relation to its path when in 
motion. [his gives dynamic quality. 

This feeling of the motion is very strong when follow- 
ing the major line in a border. A wavy line carries the 
eye along in a curving, up-and-down movement; the 
zigzag gives a sharp, broken rhythm; a straight line 
give a sense of even progress. 

It is very easy to understand this orbit, or trajectory, 
when observing an airplane “writing” with smoke 
against the sky. The smoke hangs in a line describing 
the path of the airplane. 

So if we suggest a part of the path of the moving 
object in a design —in this case the airplane — and 
the object itself, we will reconstruct in the observer’s 
mind a feeling of the airplane and its flight. 

A sky-rocket can be used as another example. The 
ball of fire ascends, and marks its path by showers of 
sparks that hang in the dark background of the night. 
In the same way our moving hand leaves behind a line 
on the black-board, when designing with chalk. Here 
the line of motion, as the back-bone of the composition, 
suggests the movement of a definite part. 


124 CREATIVE DESTGs 


COMPOSITION 


The intellectual comprehension of the laws of order 
should enable the student to make balanced composi- 
tions. 

A composition must be considered as a whole, and 
worked out first as an arrangement of mere lines with 
a consideration of rhythm and harmony; then mass 
and space must be organised when sketching the repre- 
sentative units or figures. Finally it must be finished 
with regard to all the details of which it is composed, 
into harmonious wholeness. 

In the first stage, lines must be considered as forms of 
motion; they must push one another forward, or break 
upon one another in such relation that they harmonize 
in movement. 

In the second stage, the most important unit or 
figure and also the secondary ones must be adapted to 
the dominant and subordinate lines and spaces of the 
structure which have been laid down to govern the posi- 
tion and form of these units and figures; if care is 
not taken at this point, the student can easily lose the 
harmony of the whole composition, by altering a line 
or a mass outside of his first intention. Each smallest 
unit works in a mutual relation with all the others, 
and care must be taken to keep this relation true and 
poised. 

In the third stage, the finishing of the composition, 
it is necessary to carry out to the end what has been 
started. In coloring and shading try to keep all the 
quality of the original design, and add to it style, feel- 
ing, and wholeness. 


PARE PADAE 


PivemomvyeN MOTIFS IN PRIMITIVE ARTS 


A few suggestions as to the traditional uses of the 
material contained in this book will offer an interesting 
basis of comparison to the student. It will be seen that 
the foundation is the same, only the manner and the 
spirit vary from the crude primitive to the skillful 
classic; from the eternal peasant emotion, which sur- 
vives even today in nearly all countries, to the fresh 
instinctive expression of children. 

All primitive art forms are based on seven natural 
motifs, and a comparative analysis of the ancient re- 
mains ‘of art in all countries reveals their presence in 
the very earliest attempts of man to materialize his 
emotion and ‘make a record of his imaginings, using 
them as spontaneous representations of abstract form 
or as schematic drawings representing animals, plants 
and so forth which became simplified and then modified 
again into the seven motifs. In some countries the 
motifs were used only in part, but they are as a whole 
the foundation of all design. 

Among the ancients, these seven motifs were used 
as signs to represent their gods, or the phenomena of 
sun, moon, stars, lightning, water, and other natural 
forms to which they attached symbolic meanings. In 
later epochs each region, or race, began to combine and 
elaborate these motifs in different ways, according to 

125 


126 CREATIVE DESTia 


tradition and temperament, producing characteristic 
arts which seem at first glance to be altogether separate 
and individual. But a closer examination discloses 
that they are all ruled by the same basic law of design. 

The reproductions from primitive arts which are 
shown in the following pages are given only as a sample 
of what might be specially studied. They are some 
examples of art expressions in different mediums, from 
prehistoric times to our days, and from all over the 
world, from the most diverse localities and races and 
most different periods. Some of them might have had 
their inspiration from other countries but still others 
must have been the originators. 

As line is the basis of ornament, we shall consider the 
lines we are using, comparing them to those used 
basically in antique arts. Since we haven’t the space to 
cover the entire field, let us confine our examination 
to Greek art, which has exercised a predominant in- 
fluence over the art of the western world and should 
therefore interest us the more for being more closely 
related to our own expression. 


The Spiral: © 


The so-called open curve, the scroll or spiral that 
forms the wave pattern Fig. A called MEANDRE. With 
the S-line it forms the double spire, Fig. B. 


Fic. A Hr6é.28 


The circle: C) 


Representing the stars or the sun. 


fer OE VEN MOTIFS 127 
The half-circle: Ce) 


which forms the ImpricaTEp or scale-like SEES 


pattern and the F'Estoon, or swag, called the CaATENARY, 


which appears in looped drapery. \W2A7 ARYA 


The S form: CN 


called StRYGILEs, which combines into the GuILLocHE 
(Fig. A) as it is called in French, and which is the basis 
of the double Sprre element, (Fig. B) 


BIiG,. A: Pie. b 


C§UCUwvvee 


The wavy line: 


a continued series of the S form. 
The zigzag: WW4V 


a broken series of straight lines forming angles. 
The straight line : tssscsssssssms 


These simple geometrical forms in their primary 
combinations exist alike in the ancient arts of the Tol- 
tecs, Egyptians, Lake-Dwellers, Assyrians, Chinese, 
Greek, Early Britain, Persian, Hindu, Aztec, and many 
others. (Stone Age and Bronze Age) 

They are found not only as extemporaneous expres- 
sions but also as the result of simplified natural forms, 


oe CREATIVE DESIGN 


such as plant, animal and human life represented in 
conventionalized design. But in one way or another, 
there is always the tendency to use these seven funda- 
mental forms. The accompanying illustration is an_ 
example of the way in which a bird representation 


£ 


has been reduced to a simple zigzag form. 

The following pages of examples have been selected 
from the primitive arts of various countries and 
civilizations and despite the wide discrepancy of period 
and geographical distance, they all show the common 
use of the seven fundamental motifs at a certain mo- 
ment in the artistic and cultural evolution of each race. 


Fig. 1. Ornamentation on Hittite pottery in the Near East, about 2000 B.c, 


ieee EVEN MOTIFS 129 


a e 

&e > 

Fig. 2. Present day Roumanian painted egg shells and other 
peasant ornaments. 


Ivy, 


Fic’ 


Fig. 3. Persian pottery from Susa, about Fig. 4. Italian pottery dur 
3000 B.C. ing the Bronze Age, 2000 


B.C. tO 700 B.C. 
er ees 
G O ie 
Q 
‘) , 


FIGS 
Contemporary African ornaments from the Niger district and 
the East and West Coasts. 


Fie S 


Figs. 5 and 8. 


130 CREATIVE DESIGN 


~~ 
KK 


| Ficé Fie 7 


Fig. 7. Painted fabrics of the Finnish 


tribes in Russia. 


Fig. 6. Detail of the Greek 
frescoes at Tiryns, 1400 B.C. 


Fig. 10. Contemporary ornaments from Northern 


Fic. 9. Woodcut from the Hervey 
Lapland and Siberia. 


Islands, South Pacific Ocean. 


FIG 11 
Fig. 11. A very com- \' 
mon pattern in the \ 


popular arts of China 
and Chino-Turkistan, Fig. 13. Contemporary leather work from 
twelfth century. Tuareg and Liberia. 


foe SEVEN MOTIFS 131 


12 
2) 


As 


re a Me 
\Ar» JarS Sw, 


OPO LLCS 
Fic 14 


Figs. 12 and 14. Present day African ornaments from the Congo 
and Abyssinia. 


Designs used in Borneo for the tattooing of the body. 


Fig. A shows the use of the motifs for various representations in a Greek vase 
of the early Athenian Period (600 B.c.). Fig. B is a very good example of the 
Hellenistic Period (200 a.p.). Fig. C is a pomegranate of the Dipylon type (goo 
B.c.). The peasant arts of all the European countries show the use of these 
forms. Fig. D is a painting from Dalecarlia, Sweden (1800), and Fig. E shows an 
old Renaissance sketch for jewelry in which the forms are used by the artist in 
free-hand drawing. 


paaareat rater 
ea hag IEE SS Se 


AMARA RE EE ease oseet 


C 


The black Italian pottery from Teano, Campania, of about 300 B.c. (Fig. A), and 
the example of Athenian pottery of the geometric period, goo B.c. (Fig. B) as well 
as the Hadra vases from Egypt (300 B.c.) are all good examples of the Greek 
influence. 


Fig. A is an oinochoé jar in the Cypriote style (700 B.c.) and Fig. B shows some 
late Mycenaean vases of 1400 B.c. 


les. 


1 


Examples of Coptic text 


le, 17th Century 


1 


French Text 


Fig. A. An early American lamb’s-wool hooked rug (1820), showing some of 
the motifs. 

Fig. B. An early American pottery pie dish from Pennsylvania (1800). 

Fig. C. Detail from a Greek vase of the late Bronze Age (1500 B.c.) 


Examples of modern Mexican pottery in which the seven motifs are used. 


B 


Fig. A. Pre-Dynastic Egyptian pottery of 5000 B.c. 
Fig. B. Painted drum of the Nootka Indians, British Columbia. 


. The common plaving card shows the use of the seven motifs with very little 
variation over a period of five centuries. 


French Textile, 17th Century 


140 CREATIVE DEStam 


Fic, A Fic. B 


Fig. A. Ornaments from the Malay Peninsula, taken from designs illustrating the 
mythology of the primitive Negrito tribes. 
Fig. B. Bead work of the American Iroquois Indians. 


> 


Painted Tapa of the Samoan bark fabrics of Oceania. 


Mme ok VEN MOTIFS I4I 


ZN 


Examples of ornamentation on pre-hispanic pottery from the Valle de Mexico. 
In Mexico the motifs are found from pre-historic times to the present day. 


Examples of ornament in the Bismark Archipelago of Australasia and among 
the American Apache Indians, 


142 CREATIVE Dis ia 


An example of American colonial embroidery (1700), obviously influenced by 
the painted cottons imported from India during the seventeenth century. 


Poke kVEN MOTIFS 143 


In ancient primitive arts there seems to have been 
an esthetic feeling against the crossed line. But there 
are certain exceptions where the lines do cross, as we 
have noted previously. The most characteristic ex- 
ception is the straight line crossed by the straight line, 
as a base for the checkerboard pattern: 


The wavy line may also be crossed with itself: 


eH 


The S-line crossed with itself may form a single or 
double swastika: 


144 CREATIVE DESIGN 


The zigzag crossed with itself: 


OO MAY 


The technical limitations of weaving and basketry 
must have suggested many of the variations in the 
motifs which we find in ancient design. The necessity | 
of using only straight lines brought about a geometrical 
type of ornament. Thus the original wavy line may 
have become the zigzag, and the compact wavy line 
(Fig. A) was turned into a square, (Fig. B): 


PIG at SSG | | | | Figesb 


The more compact wavy line (Fig. C) lent itself to a 
very interesting square pattern, (Fig. D): 


MIUSWAVAVAVAN 


Liga Fie, 2 


The circle (Fig. E) and the spiral (Fig. F) were also 
adapted into angular manysided figures in order to fit 
a given space and follow the demands of the woven 
material: 


© [ol A Cid A 


Fic, E Kieat 


THE SEVEN MOTIFS 145 


All of the motifs were adapted in this way. 


Nae all 


Ce EA div 
Pert ae 


This book contains the record of certain facts in’ 
graphic art expression from which we have established 
principles to serve as a basis for a fundamental law 
of design. These facts are: 

1. The similitude of certain basic forms or symbols 
used in primitive art expressions all over the world; 

2. The derivation of these basic forms (in flat, 
second dimensional representation) from various as- 
pects of one mathematical form (in volume) ; 

3. The identity of this one mathematical form (the _ 
logarithmic spiral) with the course of all growth and , 
motion in the universe. 

The objective of this method is always to afford the 
student the means whereby he may release his own 
latent creative powers. For this purpose we have 
siven him as his alphabet of form, seven of those forms 
of primitive art expression, all derived from the one 
universal and ultimate form, the spiral. 


146 CREATIVE DESiG 


It may be well to emphasize here that these derived 
forms are not strictly limited to seven. It is only for 
the purpose of this method that we have selected the 
seven most commonly found in primitive popular arts 
all over the world, that is, the seven which seem to 
show a common psychological cause for their use in 
art expression. The examples here given illustrate 
some of the subsidiary motifs derived from the com- 
mon source, the logarithmic spiral. 

The student of today, approaching these primitive 
symbols from the civilized rather than from the savage 
viewpoint is able to appreciate their mathematical 
quality and their relation to the universal order. Thus, 
what was unconscious and instinctive in primitive man 
becomes conscious in our modern approach and the 
artist now can have a glimpse, at least, of the part 
played by his creation in the cosmic scheme. 


Pee rl tet 


THE ARCHETYPE 


The archetype is the essential idea of a certain thing. 

We can form our own idea of a certain archetype by 
studying the types which are derived from it. Suppose 
we wanted to form the conception of the archetype 
“flower.” We would analyze carefully from nature an 
infinite number of different kinds of flowers and search 
in botany, as well as in all the representations of flowers 
in art, and in all other possible ways, for all the known 
and unknown laws that affect the being, purpose, 
function and structure of a flower, and discover what 
are its essentials. This abstract idea will be a concep- 
tion of the archetype. By it, if unlimited biological 
creation were possible to us, we could create other 
flowers of our own invention which would be as truly 
flowers as the others, because they would be built on 
the same fundamental plan or idea, somewhat in the 
way inventors create a more and more perfect machine. 

Innature we find the archetypes adapted to the special 
circumstances of environment which create the different 
types of species. In art, inspired by an archetype, we 
create types. With the idea horse conceived in its 
archetype we can paint, model, or in any way we choose 
represent a certain horse that is our own conception 
and creation, a type of our own, unique, different from 
those created by others, having our own personality 

147 


148 CREATIVE DESIGR 


but derived from the archetype which is not ‘ours be- 
cause it is an existing idea from which we have taken a 
conception. Similarly we can realize how the human 
figure, animals, plants, flowers and so on which have 
been represented in an infinite number of different 
ways or types corresponding to the various periods, 
arts, styles, countries and artists are each and all but 
types derived from their few archetypes corresponding 
to the fundamental ideas of the human figure, animals, 
plants, flowers and the other forms. 

In this method there has been suggested a series of 
general types of each kind, with their essentials, for 
purposes of design. Each of them suggests the arche- 
type of its species, and with this conception built up 
firmly in the mind, each one is the core of a new crea- 
tion of the individual artist. 

We have for example on page 52 a suggestion of the 
archetype bird which suggests the general structure and 
general characteristics of all birds. For designing pur- 
poses, this form contains nearly all the essentials of a 
bird. 

If we make such conception of our own, and want 
to create in our design any special kind, whether it 
exists in nature or is on the other hand of our own 
conception, we can build it according to the archetypal 
bases and our fancy. It is possible to create simply by 
adapting this conception of the archetype to the special 
variation which we wish to represent. 

We can give it long or short legs, a slender or a fat 
neck and so on within the essential idea of the arche- 
type bird, which are certain general characteristics 
such as two wings, two legs, a neck and a head and 
so on. We make it in our own way and so we create 
the type we wanted. 


THE ARCHETYPE 149 


The artist, by combining his knowledge of birds from 
his naturalistic and artistic point of view with this 
sense of the archetype, will discover a simple road to 
the most fantastic and original expressions. Patterns 
may be used for the texture of the feathers, forms of 
growth for the tail, in short, any decorative design 
desired may be used according to the individual 
imagination. In this way even the beginner will find 
himself doing with ease things he thought impossible 
to do at all. 

The simple types selected for this method are mere 
suggestions for the building of units or symbols. Most 
of them are characteristic of our modern surroundings 
reduced to the simplest form. Units are really conven- 
tions which must be created by each artist separately 
as the inevitable symbols of his own feelings and 
reactions. 

Summing up, nature is necessary to the designer, but 
not to the design: the artist should not look to nature 
for justification of his designs. The young artist 
aid. create his ideas and make his compositions 
within the laws and principles given here for his use, 
but always creatively, never in the sense of copying. 
He will gradually develop his own symbols and units, 
inspired by nature, and by existing art expressions. 
The individual will discover within himself the ade- 
quate forms for his own conceptions. 

All methods, treatises and textbooks on art are merely 
the means by which the student may hasten his own 
ends, the natural development of his own faculties. 
If he has creative ability, textbooks act as a guide, but 
they | do not offer any substitute for creativeness; nor 


must the student rely on them to chart the path of 
his personal development. The normal course of human 


150 CREATIVE DESIGN 


development is slow, and the aim of education is to help 
the student to acquire rapidly such knowledge as he 
may need for the full expression of his original talents. 

We are trying here to give general suggestions to the 
student, rather than technical details. There are many 
special treatises on technique, color, and use of medium, 
which the student is advised to consult when he feels 
himself far enough advanced to attack these particular 
problems. 

It is of the utmost importance at this stage that the 
student build up his own sense of discrimination and 
be guided by his own opinion in selecting advice and 
suggestions. No one can do this for another indi- 
vidual; each person must choose for himself the way 
he will go in the creative life. Books will help, as all 
experience and knowledge help, only when the indi- 
vidual depends on his own judgment, backed by his 
own developed imagination and understanding. 

This method for art study has a further effect and 
application if we realise that, later, as man discovers 
through art the laws of nature and, through their 
relationship, the laws of the universe, he becomes 
acquainted with the rhythm and harmony that is 
universal, that rules the infinite. All the arts are ways 
of experimenting to find the key to universal law. Art 
is, therefore, only a means, not an end: the means to 
‘self-perfection. By this method man is able later to 
solve and understand higher problems of universal law, 
in some way to become part of them; that is, to be 
more conscious of and really to understand them. 

When by this training we have acquired more knowl- 
edge than we really thought we needed for art, as we 
have advanced farther than we had expected, and 
learned more than we ever thought we could learn 


Mee ARCHETYPE 151 


merely by trying to give shape to our emotions, we have 
reached a knowledge of universal law and have attained 
the means of creation. Thus art leads us, drives us, ina 
way, toward philosophy. Here we realise the impor- 
tance of art education and how far we can go by the 
means of art. We may consider that the study of an 
art is a medium to awaken the germ of enthusiasm, life, 
and movement, which can be applied to the problems of 
knowledge. Here though we have observed only the 
special case of graphic art, drawing, we can see that 
it is a medium for attaining the knowledge of philos- 
ophy. We could reach as high a level through the study 
of other arts, because the different arts are the ways to 
conquer, to reach the unknown. 

We have seen how all primitive arts are based on 
seven primitive motifs. Thoroughly studying the 
seven motifs, we find that they are seven types derived 
from an archetype: the ideal archetype spiral, which de- 
velops in all dimensions. ‘The seven motifs are the 
more characteristic aspects or types of that ideal arche- 
type spiral in a conventional flat representation con- | 
sidering only one plane of their development. That 
is why lines never cross in this system nor interfere 
with each other; because that could only occur in 
the case of two planes in which lines could go one 
behind the other. 

Thus we give the student the seven motifs, the seven 
most characteristic types of the archetype spiral and with 
this suggestion he unconsciously builds in his own mind 
the conception of the archetype and he gets the emotion 
of what it suggests; that is, motion, action, life, evolu- 
tion; and conversely, motion, action, life, evolution 
evoke the archetype spiral. Our highest effort is to get 
the conception in our minds of this idea) shape in all 
its dimensions. 


152 CREATIVE DESiiaay 


The teacher after having a perfect knowledge of 
what the archtype means must work with his students 
until each one of them gets consciously that knowl- 
edge for himself. The student must understand that 
each archetype is the common denominator, the mother, 
of an unlimited number of types. He must see that, 
although each type differs from the others in its 
quality and structure, the essential plan or idea on 
which their construction is based is the same for all of 
them. He must know that they all come or flow from 
the same mother idea which gives them all the same 
mother inheritance, the essential constitution, obey- 
ing the same immutable laws of generation. On this 
depends in the greatest degree the difference and va- 
riety of the types. The teacher can make this point 
clear by this example. All the skeletons and frames of 
the vertebrates, man as well as animals, are derived 
from an archetype with the same plan of structure; 
the differences are due only to the different degrees of 
evolution that each type has reached corresponding 
to the necessities of its own progress or the different 
purposes of its evolutive course. 

We may be sure that when the student has made 
such knowledge his own, he has opened to his mind 
a broad way which connects him with the world of 
the archetypes within which inventors and creators live 
and act. Because, in fact, from that moment he wil 
find that all types and shapes manifested in the 
world are derived from their corresponding archetype. 
He knows when looking at a machine and at its work 
how to find the archetype from which it was originated. 
And since he knows that from that archetype an infinite 
number of varieties or types may be produced, he can 
conceive the one type which will best suit his special 
purpose. 


THE ARCHETYPE 153 


Now the student will understand easily the way to 
evolve a machine; that is, by having more facilities to 
make improvements on it. He will see how all inven- 
tions have at the beginning some imperfections, that 
little by little they are improved, as, for instance, the 
typewriter, a machine every new model of which has 
some improvement. The student that has made such 
knowledge his own will be able to improve and evolve 
things much better and in less time than other students 
who have not had the chance to acquire such knowl- 
edge through these principles that encourage the 
awakening of intuition. 

The student who practises this knowledge will find 
that he is a creator and that he has the place of the 
father when creating. He will see that before he can 
produce atype fromthe mother archetype, he must make 
a mental fecundation without which the type could not 
be manifested as a child of that mother archetype and 
of hisown mind. The student will realise that the type 
that he got from the archetype is the child of his imagi- 
nation, a creation of his own that has his own charac- 
teristics and to which he, consciously, with the power of 
his mind, has given a certain shape, with a definite 
purpose. Or, in other words, he imagined the type he 
needed and has given it shape, using the essential con- 
stitution of the one mould, the archetype. 

Now let us consider the ideal spiral as the mother 
archetype of the seven motifs. I have used only seven 
of the infinite variety of them, because they are the 
ones by which primitive man expressed himself first and 
because they are the most typical representatives of the 
different characteristic groups of types and also because 
they make the archetype more synthetically comprehen- 
sive. If we consider that man always tried to give ex- 


154 CREATIVE DESIGN 


pression to his emotions and ideas and that at a certain 
degree of his development he expressed himself with 
seven primary motifs each of them represented in an 
infinite variety of shapes, we may well suspect that 
these simple motifs represent or correspond to the 
infinite ideas and emotions that man has expressed. So 
the seven basic motifs may be said to correspond to 
seven basic emotions or ideas, and this conception may 
help us to understand that the archetype spiral is the 
common denominator for human graphic expression of 
emotions; the synthesis of expression of shape and 
movement. 

Thus, we may see that the original inspiration goes 
through the following steps: the individual, who has an 
inspiration, feels the necessity to express it, to give 
shape to it, in a plastic way. While trying to. find the 
shape of his inspiration he will fall into other forms of 
expression which correspond to, or are types of, the 
same archetype, and they lead him till he conceives the 
essential of it or its Arch. Accordingly, the individ- 
ual with his inspiration and the archetype with which 
he is to give plastic shape to it, originates the type he 
wants. From this inspiration and the archetype is born 
the special type that he desires. The individual repre- 
sents the inspiration through the archetype and, when 
the special type is conceived, he has only to reduce it 
to plastic shape; then, depending on his personal abili- 
ties in the different arts, he decides through which art 
he will express himself. In this special case, he expresses 
himself through graphic forms, through the material 
medium of drawing. This is the course from the pure 
conception of the idealistic inspiration to the material 
plastic form which depends upon and is ruled by the 
archetype. ‘This special shaped type in plastic form 


fete ARCHETYPE 155 


corresponds to his inspiration. Naturally much depends 
on the freedom of the individual and his ability to be 
sincere and to rise above the prejudices that would hin- 
der real expression, and also upon the possibilities of his 
skill in his chosen medium of expression. All these are 
factors in the pure expression of his inspiration. 

Thus, we have a new procedure for learning graphic 
art, a procedure based on the recognition that the arts, 
the material representations of racial emotions, are not 
to be learned, as it were, by rote, but must be con- 
ceived by a developing process, comparable to that by 
which the arts were first evolved. This new method 
recognizes that the development of individual artistic 
perception is the recapitulation of the evolving artistic 
perception of the race, and that, therefore, graphic art 
is not something to_ be learned but something to be 
lived, something that each person must discover for 
himself, and will discover for himself if he be given the 
right principles and the proper tools for the adventure. 


PAK] iy 


THE WHIRLING SPIRAL 


It 1s the purpose of this part of the discussion to con- 
sider with the student the factor of form not as given 
shapes, but as conceived from its very beginnings; for 
the student’s creative urge will reach fulfillment not 
through manipulation of given shapes only but through 
as much of a conception of the very creation of form 
as he can grasp. With the idea of searching out an 
understanding of form from the very beginnings of 
things the student might take as a starting point the 
fact that there is in the universe a constant relation 
between cause and effect. This constant relation is a 
uniform way in which mental and physical forces pro- 
duce their effects and a certain phenomenon results 
from a certain condition. This constant relation is a 
law. We may thus conceive that the unknown, occult 
potentialities which rule the universe acquire form when 
they manifest themselves as laws acting on matter; 
that it is through matter that they assume form. 
Whatever may be one’s thought with regard to ultimate 
causation, at least it is necessary to begin with the 
postulates which sum up in the hypotheses of physical 
science of our own day, man’s conception of the creation 
of form. Expressed in briefest epitome those postulates 
comprise the conception that the forces of these occult 
potentialities are eternal energy which, taking the form 

156 


fee dt RLING SPIRAL Wy 


of vortical motion, comes into being in the manifested 
universe as forces or modes of motion which act on 
matter and so produce forms. When we think of these 
laws we should not limit our thought to known laws, 
but should bear in mind that we only begin to know a 
few of those which comprise the more familiar dynamics 
of the Universe; but besides these, there are probably 
other undiscovered forces which undoubtedly take 
their part in determining the forms of the universe. 

These laws, known and unknown, all interact to- 
gether in a perfect interior accord, which we call the 
harmony of the universe. Thus there must be a mani- 
festation, which is the synthesis of this dynamic inter- 
action of all the laws, and therefore the all-inclusive 
origin of all forms. If we try to conceive what it may 
be which comprises in its own existence all the dynamic 
principles, such as the centrifugal and centripetal 
laws, movement, cohesion, unity, attraction, repulsion, 
thythm, harmony and so on, and if we try to form a 
concept of this synthesis by establishing its analogies 
and generalities in its purest and most primary form, 
we arrive at an idea or concept of something which we 
ay call, for lack of a better word, a whirling spiral 
in motion, or vortex, in which there is the possibility 
‘for all the laws and principles to coéxist. 

In such a conception we may consider the vortex 
or whirling-spiral motion of the lines of force as the 
‘synthesis of such lines, through which are produced 
basically all forms of matter and diverse modes of 
motion from the simplest to the most complex. Since 
the universal lines, in which resistance, cohesion, 
attraction, repulsion, movement, and so on have their 
being in action, are known as mechanical laws, the 
universe is therefore, according as we perceive its 


158 CREATIVE Disa. 
aspects of form and motion, mathematically organic, 


just as the laws by which its shapes and movements are 
constituted are organic and subject to mathematical 
law and analysis. 

The whirling vortex in all its dimensions is for us 
with our present limitations of thought an undefinable 
form. What we wish to express by the name is a 
noumenon, a one thing, which, however, is indescribable 
since it is an infinite form, a cause, whereas we are able 
to describe only finite manifestations or phenomena 
within the limited sphere of our knowledge. The in- 
finite form of the noumenon is manifest to us only in 
the finite form of phenomena which are its phases or 
aspects, for it has an infinite number of phases or aspects 
which differ from one another. Hence we will take very 
simple phenomena of the whirling spiral, so as to be 
able better to understand and study them, and see 
their relations to the phenomena of art. We will take 
one portion of it, a single point 7m motion in the whirling 
spiral, i.e., as if we were considering a particle of dust 
in a whirlwind. Following its passage, or orbit in 
space, we will find that it describes a whirling form of 
motion. If this motion-form could be crystallized so as 
to make it a form without motion, and its passage 
fixed, such track would be a form similar to that of a 
curl-shaped spring. This curl will represent in space 
the solidification of the run of one point in the whirling 
spiral, the motion being thus, as it were, frozen. 
Thoroughly to get in mind a structural conception of this 
form, a similar form should actually be constructed 
with wire. Such a coiled wire will represent a part of 
the solidified form of movement in space of one point 
of the vortex or whirling spiral. 

Objects in full volume can be represented in the flat, 


Tew HIRLING SPIRAL  ts9 


as projections of their own shadows on a flat screen. 
So the coiled wire existing in space gives a flat repre- 
sentation of itself in its shadow and we have elimin- 
ated the element of volume, or the third dimension. 

Thus, we shall project the shadow of the coiled wire on 
a screen in all positions, so as to get its most character- 
istic aspects in the shadow, and we get now line-forms 
as design with no volume. In so doing we have finally 
reduced the most characteristic aspects of the whirling 
spiral to simple lines projected on the screen according 
to the different positions from which it may be observed. 
As we see, this same form exists as motion, as structure 
in volume and as line-form on a surface according to the 
dimension in which we consider it. 

We may observe that if the lamp is placed in the 
center of one of the openings at the ends of the coil we 
get in the projected shadow a spiral or scroll-form. I 
the lamp is slightly moved to one side of the opening 
then we get a series of tangential circles, touching one 
another at a similar point; if a side projection is made, 
it will show a zigzag form; and if the coil is slightly 
stretched, then we get the projection of an undulating 
or wavy line; seen more from the side we get a series of 
half-circles like a script ““m.” We must not yet con- 
sider the combinations of these forms when their lines 
cross, for they are confusing, being combinations of 
front and side views. If we study these forms we find 
that they correspond marvellously to the seven most 
characteristic motifs which we have pointed out as ex- 
isting in all primitive art expressions, considering that 
the S-shape is a part of the wavy line, and the straight 
line is a portion of an infinitely large conception of any 
one of these motifs or a very stretched wavy line. So 
these seven selected forms which are phases or aspects 


160 CREATIYV ©) Ditaiiaes 


(when lines do not cross) of the most simple conception 
in the flat of the whirling spiral’s form, seem to show a 
primordial reflection in the sub-conscious mind of man 
of the cosmic abstract form. The greater part of very 
primitive art sprang from emotive feeling, not from the 
head. Such unconscious work must be considered as a 
reflection of the motion-forms of the dynamic forces of 
the universe acting on the subconscious mind of man 
with its limited perception and understanding. 

Likewise and at the same time, the source of the in- 
spiration of these seven forms may have been nature’s 
visible structure and motion. The mind of man has 
always been enthralled by discovering geometric forms in 
nature which subconsciously have always interested him; 
and _as the spiral form of the vortex is the simplest that 
is produced by the joint action of all the laws upon 
matter it naturally follows that we find its manifesta- 
tions as the fundamental form in all shapes and struc- 
tures, andin all modes of motion and their combinations. 
There are certain common forms, of structure, motion, 
‘and growth, that are easily perceived or conceived. 
Observing nature we find this force at work in atmos- 
pheric phenomena, as in the vortical movement of the 
air and of water, visible in whirlwinds, whirlpools, 
movements of all gases and liquids, clouds, smoke, 
waves, flames of fire; in plant life, in the structure and 
growth of vegetables, the arrangement of leaves and 
branches, the growth of trunks and stems, the arrange- 
ment of petals in flowers, the structure of pine-cones 
and pineapples; in animal life, in snail and other shells, 
antelope-horns, arrangement of feathers in birds, scales 
of fishes, structure of nests and spider-webs and in 
many other forms of natural growth. 

Motion-Form as we have said before, is represented 


itty WHIRLING SPIRAL 161 


in types of the Arch of motion, the whirling spiral. 
Primitive man had perhaps established the concept of 
the whirling spiral for motion-form from his observa- 
tion of the natural phenomena of his environment. For 
us nowadays there enter into that concept other im- 
pressions of motion from our contemporary environ- 
ment, so that besides impressions from nature, the con- 
cept comprises such impressions as those received from 
the dance, the forms of curves described by a whirling 
top, the lines of the parcours of a rolling piece of money 
which turns around in a logarithmic spiral, falling in its 
center; in a wood shaving which curls in the same way; 
a falling strip of paper which turns on itself and also 
describes a spiral in space; the bouncing and other 
motion-forms of a ball, the movements of machinery, 
and an infinite number of other motion-forms in our 
surroundings. 

In astronomy we find the whirling spiral in the form 
of nebulae and orbits of celestial bodies; it is also found . 
in microscopic structure and motion and in the pre- 
sumed whirling-form of the motion of electrons in the 
structure of atoms. All of these phenomena abstractly 
convey to the same whirling spiral form. 

Things sensed and emotions are connected with each 
other when they are simultaneously experienced. So 
the memory of things sensed may by association of 
ideas awaken emotions, and vice versa. Perceiving the 
lightning (zigzag form) man was frightened, and so the 
memory of the concept of the lightning may have 
awakened a subconscious emotion of fright and con- 
versely, the emotion of fright may have awakened, 
among other images, that of the zigzag, which was 
then used to induce the sensation of fear. Similarly, 
satisfaction and water (wavy lines) may have been 


162 CREATIVE DES 


associated. Hieroglyphics and symbols are created 
in this way. Thus, each of the aspects of the whirling 
spiral must have corresponded to certain associated 
emotions, some of these being common to all peoples. 
Spontaneously, forms of mental images will appear in 
art manifestations as unconscious response to the emo- 
tions and the impressions of the exterior world upon 
the artist. 

In the conceptual harmony of the universe of which 
we have been speaking, we live and move and have our 
being. As its natural laws rule the universe, they 
naturally also rule our arts. There must be a relation 
between these laws and the plastic arts, which means 
that there must be a natural law of plastic arts. To 
sum up the whole point of this discussion, then, if we 
relate the fact of the underlying dynamic of the whirling 
spiral in nature to the plastic arts, this similitude will 
be the basis for what might be called the natural law 
of drawing or design. It can also be the basis for the 
study of surfaces and volumes and for painting and 
sculpture. However, as we are to confine ourselves to 
the study of drawing we shall only consider the law in 
respect to lines. As governed in its primary forms by 
the principle of the whirling spiral, we find this natural 
law to consist therefore of the phases of the whirling 
spiral perceived in its projection in the flat which give 
the seven lines, common to all primitive art. it 

In the preceding discussion we have endeavored to 
arrive at the fundamental principle of design, which we 
defined as the form of the whirling spiral. It remains to 
find how art expression in design is accomplished within 
this principle. 

First we shall consider how to think about form. The 
impressions of forms in the natural world which man 


THE WHIRLING SPIRAL _ 163 


has developed through the ages of his experience into 

the generalized ideas or concepts of which we have 

spoken, when they come to reach their utmost general- 
_ity are called archetypes. 

Our stock or vocabulary of conceptual forms are arche- 
types of forms of structure and of motion-forms in our 
environment. Nevertheless, archetypes can not be rep- 
resented in any form of plastic art, because then they 
become types. The archetype being infinite and the 
types finite, the finite types are only phases or aspects 
of the infinite archetype. 

At this point we have in mind, then, the conception 
of the archetypes which the foregoing paragraphs have 
set forth, and the conception of the whirling spiral as 
the possible archetype of all motion-form and forms of 
structure as was suggested in the discussion of the nat- 
ural law of design. We come next to observe the 
manifestations of this archetype and its relation to 
conventional terms of design such as rhythm, growth, 
composition. 

Rhythm is perceived as repetition of events. Be- 
tween every two events or expressions there is a relative 
space or distance called their intervals. Rhythm is 
the expression in relation of the space or distance be- 
tween the events. In the track of the whirling spiral 
motion-form each event or beat may be considered as a 
similar point in each successive arc of the spiral. [See 
illustration page 164. | 

We have the sensation of rhythm in nature in the se- 
quence of days and years; in plant and animal life as 
structure and movement; in music it is the lapse of 
time between every two beats; in design, the space or 
distance between every two units. 

The factor of change in rhythm is called growth; 


164 CREATIVE DER 


on faa / 
i —— 
Sach U2, wy. of re /\ 
y \ j ee 
\ | ihe 
i\ 7 \ a 
Famers | ee 
lath ita + ei 
| 1 Fees “ ; 
| | | | \ ] ee 
| | Nag 
| i 
eg 
c / 


a represents the events, and the spaces 
in between are the intervals. 


there are two types of rhythm; one uniform, designated 
as continuous growth, and one changing, designated 
simply as growth. 

CoNTINUOUS GROWTH is the arrangement of events, 
or units, and intervals, or spaces in between them, in an 
even rhythm, in a sequence of continued even conditions 
without any perceptible change. 

GrowTH is the rhythmical and harmonious change 
of rhythm, augmenting or diminishing its events and 
intervals. It is, like everything else depending on the 
function of the whirling spiral motion-form, subject 
to mathematical proportion. We must bear in mind 
that all the spirals, in order to be perfectly shaped, must 
have a mathematical logarithmic proportion in their 
structure. Students who are acquainted with Dr. Jay 
Hambidge’s Dynamic Symmetry are familiar with this 
principle. Growth is the rhythmical and harmonious 
structural way in which nature is built. There we 
perceive the different steps of growth in the continual 
change or development which life effects in living forms. 


fees HIRLING SPIRAL 165 


Perfect growth in art exists when the events and inter- 
vals keep the logarithmic proportions having the rela- 
tion of the size of the units and the space between each 
unit and the next one in an augmenting or diminishing 
sequence, as in a fern or palm leaf.! 

Confining ourselves in this discussion, among the 
different phases of design, to that of form only, we leave 
out of consideration those inner qualities of design 
variously designated as feeling, expression or life. 

We have not yet studied in this book the aesthetic 
phase but only the form through which the aesthetic 
function is performed. 

It has been said that things more excellent than 
images have been expressed by images. To the art- 
ist this means that his own created types or symbols, 
made to express something that is of his own soul, in 
their aesthetic composition give an emotion to other 
souls far more significant than the simple, separate 
things of which the composition was composed. We 
shall see later how the symbols acquire a new life when 
used by our inspiration, and how the feeling gives 
life and expression to the forms. 

This is, of course, one of the most important parts of 
the natural law of design and should be considered in a 
special discussion; and we come last of all to find how 
the student may grasp the potentialities latent in the 
universe, and how in turn they act on him and reach 
fulfillment in an art expression. To set forth how this 
fulfillment may come to pass we shall discuss two 
phases of the student’s development which we shall 
call intuition and technique. 


1 See Bragdon’s The Beautiful Necessity. 


PA Relay 


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SCRE 


Our compositions, being ruled by the laws of order, 
are in a sense mathematical and geometrical, but far 
beyond the extent to which we can use geometry and 
mathematics. Besides, there is something else, which 
is mathematics related to the emotional and spiritual 
element; thus we are not able to solve our problem 
completely in this purely intellectual way, and the only 
way left is to develop our growing intuition, by which 
we shall be able intuitively to solve such intricate 
problems. Intuition gives us the right solution for 
what we feel is the best. When the student gets beyond 
attainment-by-conscious-reasoning he is able to feel by 
his instinctive sense of beauty or truth (his growing 
intuition) and in proportion to his degree of evolution, 
the action of the laws of the universe and to sense their 
mathematical relations and unity far beyond his powers 
to prove. 

We use “intuition” not in the sense of the uncon- 
scious reaction which is emotional or instinctive, but 
in the sense of the action which is free, although it is 
conscious. Intuition is the comprehension of the emo- 
tional feeling, and through it a direct comprehension of 
the harmony of the universe. This comes through 
the self-development of the student. This growing 
development brings with it the power of acting freely 
within the laws, of being to a certain extent in harmony 

166 


Pitre rCOHOLOGY OF CREATION 167 


with the universe. Knowledge gives a larger field to 
our receptivity, making the universe more accessible 
and bringing us closer to reality. 

No other rule can now be given than to act within 
the laws, using each separately and testing each one 
as far as possible. This is more for the purpose of 
getting acquainted with them, because the problem 
becomes too involved when the simultaneous interac- 
tion of all these laws in harmony is considered. Since 
we are dealing not only with known laws but with others 
as yet conceived only as presentiments or feelings, only 
our sense of beauty or intuition can help us to use them; 
and the more developed our intuition is, the truer will 
be the perception of our feeling. 

Finally, then, the student must of necessity ask, 
“How may intuition be gained; what is the way of 
attainment of this desideratum?” ‘The answer is, by 
the desire to comprehend the emotional feeling and by 
developing that knowledge through the acquisition of 
technique as an aid to expression. 

For design, as for achievement in other activities, 
technique is comprised of the mastery of the activity 
by the comprehension of the laws that govern that 
activity. From what we have said so far about the 
conceptual view of the laws of design the student can 
understand at this point that comprehension neces- 
sarily implies an increasing synthetic knowledge of the 
laws that form the harmony of the universe. ‘This 
answer may perhaps still seem remote, and it remains 
to explain the way to the comprehension that gives 
mastery or technique. ‘This we shall find, as we have 
suggested, in the individual development of the stu- 
dent. 

Development is the only way to comprehension. A 


168 CREATIVE DEoaiass 


child would not understand how to run his father’s busi- 
ness even if it were carefully explained tohim. He needs 
to build up, to evolve himself, to go through his own ex- 
periences of the why’s and wherefore’s, so as to get the 
capacity and mentality and knowledge of a grown-up 
person. Hence we have to build up our mentality to a 
higher standard in order to comprehend what is now 
far out of our reach. The hidden knowledge we seek 
exists and manifests itself everywhere in every existing 
thing, depending for its discovery on the fitness of the 
seeker, on his degree of evolution, his capacity to feel 
and to perceive the action of the laws and to apply 
their generalization. We attain as much comprehen- 
sion as we can grasp and the farther we develop mentally 
and spiritually the more we are able to grasp. Curiosity 
moves us to a desire for experiences to provide the 
material for the establishment of generalities, the world 
being for us a laboratory in which we make assays of_ 
phenomena. These experiments may be real actions 
in life, or exist only in our imaginative life — intense 
thoughts rather than outward acts — giving us the 
knowledge of a real experience almost as truly as if they 
had been outwardly lived. The imaginative life is 
obviously a broader field for experimentation, since 
our imagination is shackled only by our intellectual 
and emotional limitations and its experiences may be 
contemplated and analyzed from a detached view point. 

The field of experimentation in imaginative life with 
which we are concerned is art. However as we 
develop further and further in this field the technique 
which we have defined as constantly increasing syn- 
thetic knowledge, we shall find its generalities common 
to all other fields. Astronomy, medicine, chemistry, 
physics, mathematics, political economy and other 


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATION 160 


lines of intellectual activity, as well as art, if they could 
be studied to their utmost depth, would come in their 
final analysis to the same basic fundamentals of the 
laws of the universe. Thus all activities are good ways 
to attain the ever increasing knowledge with which in- 
tuition is to be supplemented. 

In the end, then, we see that art is one of the many 
ways by which man attains knowledge and builds him- 
self into a superior being. Through his endeavors in 
this field he works toward his own evolution. Each 
design is an experiment, each line a problem to solve, 
where all the universal laws are in function, and from 
these experiments he gathers knowledge which _ is 
universal and which quickens his intuition. Through 
aesthetic emotions he realises universal generalities. 
The simple fact of considering the possibility of the 
existence of yet unknown analogies and laws acting in 
our world will help toward their discovery. Self-effort 
and experimentation helped by our growing intuition 
will approach to the hidden order with its, for us, new 
analogies and laws. 

Self-effort is the only way to self-development, and it 
has to be wrought through one’s own experience, by 
thought and meditation, by striving and suffering. 
These practices develop in us the faculty for knowledge 
just as gymnastic exercises develop the faculty of 
physical force. Discoveries acquired by our own ex- 
perience are the everlasting ones, and the effort they 
cost is necessary for the development of our mental 
and spiritual life from which comes intuition. 

Such self-development is the attainment of the char- 
acteristics of the superior man, endowed with faculties 
of deeper comprehension. There is an unconscious 
human necessity, an instinctive, emotional or intuitive 


170 CREATIVE DESTGN 


tendency to act within the harmony of the universe, 
known as the desire for beauty, perfection, rhythm and 
so on; and so human evolution reaches out toward the 
comprehension of such laws. What we call beauty and 
perfection is a deepened perception of the action of 
those laws. 

The increased knowledge of the superior man makes 
him a master of his instinctive and emotional nature 
and he is thus more consciously able to act freely. 
Guided by his intuition, his work in art is of a superior 
kind, and the message he has to give through his work, 
in the form of higher beauty, gives to others that high 
aesthetic enjoyment which he experiences in creation. 

The evolution of forms and their expression make the 
evolution of art. Art is ever changing, evolving and 
developing its fundamental forms. The fundamental 
expressions and forms in their infinite stages of evolu- 
tion and in their combinations are what produce the 
different arts of different times and peoples. Present- 
day expressions of art are the evolved ideas and feelings 
of yesterday; and the efforts, desires, feelings, dreams 
and fancies of our creative imagination are bulging the 
New, the Art that is to be. 

The aesthetic function or the function of art is rela- 
tive to the state of evolution of the artist or observer. 
It comprises a different reaction in each different case. 
We find the aesthetic function in primitive man as 
instinctive as play; in a higher degree of evolution, 
as a sensual and emotional outlet, as a field of experi- 
mentation for his desires and emotions in the form of 
beauty. Then afterwards it becomes a speculative 
field for 1 investigation of knowledge and for the develop- 
ment of his intuition, and then only does art reveal to 
man the inner life of nature. 


Pr emOLOGY OF CREATION 171 


So it is that art has very different meanings, depending 
on the standpoint of the active artist and the passive 
observer and on their degrees of evolution. Certain 
aesthetic experiences are sometimes attained through 
psychological states artificially induced by stimulants 
and narcotics. Aesthetic comprehension which, in 
comparison to this sporadic type of experience, depends 
on a certain degree of cultivated and attained develop- 
ment of intuition is what has been called by phi- 
losophers “the musical state” or the “lyric state,” or 
what is known as “ecstasy”’ in the practices of mysti- 
cism. Similarly it is known by many as induced by 
love, perhaps the most potent emotional experience of 
all. ‘These variously known aesthetic experiences some 
philosophers have held, are not subject to conscious 
purpose or to any laws. They are the usual ways by 
which man escapes the fetters of this lower life. The 
fact remains though that they give him no control over 
feeling; they do not come when he wishes and he can 
not direct them in the way he would. They are in fact 
but an unconscious outreach to a higher realm of which 
we are only occasionally aware. Yet we do not need 
to be satisfied with that degree of attainment. One who 
has highly developed his will power, through self-effort, 
is able by his own will to maintain a state of intuition 
which he can master and through which he can com- 
prehend his feeling and to give to this world aesthet- 
ically, through symbols, the expression of his feelings of 
the inner world, which, being universal truth, reaches 
everyone’s soul. 


PAR Teva 


THE INNER AND OUTER CAUSES) OF 2h. 


We have studied in this work given forms and their 
exterior causes or forms, but we have said little about 
the other part which rules the form, the inner cause 
of form, the inner cause of creation, the life or expres- 
sion within the form. This being a subject to be treated 
in a special work we shall give in the following pages 
only a synthesis of it. 

In the period in which we are now living, a new form 
of art expression is to appear. It will correspond to a 
social group more highly evolved than any other hereto- 
fore, the flowering, we might say, of this period and 
what we might consider as the forerunner of a new race 
of beings endowed with superior characteristics. 

This does not mean that all previous art expressions 
will disappear, because they all have their right to 
exist and have their place in the ladder of human evolu- 
tion. They are characteristic of the different cultural 
categories into which, broadly speaking, humanity 
falls. 

The modern movements of art have revised the 
ways of expression of nearly all the existing and past 
forms of art expression. Through them, we are finding 
the possibility for a new expression. In the discovery 
of new forms in our modern surroundings we are finding 

172 


Meavaks OF CREATION 173 


the means for a complete expression of the true spirit 
of our times. This re-creation of the old forms and 
interpretation of the new by the modern artist will, 
under the illumination of his vision, achieve a syn- 
thesis of forms as a basis for future expression. 

This new form of the future art, of the real Futurism, 
is not based on any particular style or exterior aspect 
of art, but on its inner quality which has been developed 
or awakened in the artist who created it. Skill, and all 
the matters related to styles or different schools of art, 
which have so disturbed and divided so many artists 
and which are only exterior factors, have no great im- 
portance in the new way of art. 

The important part in the new conception will be 
the work, its aesthetic function. Being no longer cir- 
cumstantial but transcendental, and of a higher cate- 
gory, the work of the artist will comprise conscious 
knowledge of its causes — its function and its purpose. 
It will have passed the experimental stage. 

We begin to realise that the actuation of this new 
period of evolution in which we have entered, is going 
to manifest itself in comprehension of the feelings and 
their functions and this is going to be the characteristic 
by which this future period will be ruled, as the char- 
acteristic which ruled the last period which we are just 
completing was thought. Thus it will be in this new 
way that we shall pass from the knowledge of form to 
the knowledge of its cause or genesis. 

What corresponds to the emotions and feelings 1s 
what we call Aesthetics. The function of aesthetics is 
manifested. by them, but man is not yet sufficiently 
evolved to be capable of interpreting those feelings in 
their corresponding thoughts. 

It is on a superior plane to the mental one that feelings 


174 CREATIVE DEwigay 


engender thoughts, and only through developed intui- 
tion is the individual able to reach such a plane con- 
sciously. To lead, awake or develop our generation 
toward such a state will be the goal alike of purposeful 
artists and teachers. ‘The creators will be moved to their 
creations by causes which will depend on their degree of 
evolution and their capacity to interpret their feelings. 

The evolution of individuals or of their genius will be 
easily measurable by the kind of feelings manifested 
in their thoughts or ideas and expressed in their works. 
Whatever the evolutional state of the individual, crea- 
tion is arrived at through these most characteristic 
steps: 

The consciousness which makes us feel, the feeling 
which makes us think, the thought which reveals the 
special form of what we are going to create and the de- 
sire of the creative act which makes us shape the thought 
in physical matter. 

There is already in our consciousness the form with all 
its minute details exactly as we wish it to be later on 
when it will have been shaped in physical matter, but 
its fulfillment depends on our comprehension and 
physical aptitude for it. (We understand by con- 
sclousness the higher cause within ourselves, our inner 
will, which, by means of the intuition, we must learn 
to be aware of and to use.) 

Thus the most perfect creation depends on the com- 
prehension and interpretation of feeling by thought, 
conceiving in this way the real form which best cor- 
responds to and expresses the feeling. When this is 
achieved the shaping of that form is comparatively 
easy. 

The absolute comprehension of feeling can only come 
by the unification of feeling and thought wrought to- 


CAUSES OF CREATION 175 


gether by an effort of will—a deep desire for such 
achievement. This will bring us to real comprehension: 
the possibility of feeling the thought and of thinking 
the feeling, both as one, is only reached by self-effort, 
by the awakening of the intuition, and such achieve- 
ment produces the comprehensive and creative poten- 
tiality of the superman. 

Until we do arrive at a complete development of in- 
tuition, since through intuition we feel the forms which 
are coming to the mind later to be expressed as ideas 
or thoughts, it is not possible for us to get a perfect 
interpretation of our feeling in corresponding thoughts 
or ideas, and naturally impossible to get perfection in 
our creation. 

Genius is the higher state of the individual in human 
evolution before reaching that perfect comprehension 
of the feeling which turns him into a different being 
far beyond all that we have thus far known. ‘Thus in 
this ascending course of evolution there are infinite states 
with different degrees of comprehension in which al- 
ready there are in different ways the reflection of the 
superior qualities of the superman in man. When quite 
developed the reflection of such qualities makes him 
superior to his fellows and he is considered a genius; 
but his creations are yet only the reflection of the super- 
man within himself, and to reach his total unfoldment 
must always be his aim. Our future quest will be genius, 
but our ideal will be the superman. 

While we are not dealing with the reality of the super- 
man who has achieved the unification of feeling and 
thought, we shall use the term feeling-thought to define 
a quality as yet only relatively formulated, conceiving 
it to be caused by will power and itself to be the cause 
for creation; remembering that the comprehension of 


176 CREATIVE DESiGmN 


the feeling and the feeling of the thought are at their 
beginnings manifested in the individual only as a grow- 
ing intuition. 

This perfect unification or comprehension of the 
feeling and thought achieved by the intuition is in- 
describable under our present limitations but we shall 
try to explain it as far as possible. This presentation 
of the conception can be no more than a mere outline, 
but it will help us toward its further comprehension. 

We know that in this world there exist two opposite 
forces and that they are maintained not in perfect 
equilibrium but that, as one or the other has the prepon- 
derance, different phenomena are produced. Those 
two forces are the centripetal, which is characterized by 
attraction, integration, conservation and designated 
as feminine or negative, and the centrifugal, which is 
characterized by the action of radiation, disintegration, 
expansion, and is designated as masculine or positive. 
Those two forces correspond to the two we have 
being studying, the feminine factor to the feeling and 
the masculine factor to the thought. Thus the problem 
is to destroy polarity, fusing those two poles in one. In 
separate state each pole needs the other; that is why 
they are attracted to each other; they are their own 
complements, and when the two are unified in one by 
mutual comprehension they reach perfection. 

In the same way, the three factors, will, feeling and 
thought, when they combine, establish a new vibration 
which makes possible the state of the superman, in 
which the struggle between the feminine and masculine 
natures has been balanced and wrought together, fused 
by the will in the form of mutual comprehension, so 
that duality exists no more. 

All existing things are governed by the immutable 


CAUSES OF CREATION 177 


laws of nature. Each existing thing in our manifested 
world is the expression of an idea transmuted into 
physical matter and thus is subject to its laws. The 
existence of forms, and the action and movement of 
matter, are only possible when subject to these essen- 
tial laws and conditions. We all have a conscious or 
sub-conscious knowledge of such laws, as well as of 
the manifested forms developed under them, and this 
knowledge is gained either experimentally or intuitively. 
An idea can be manifested in matter only by being 
formulated within the laws of matter, and this essential 
basic form is called the archetype of the idea. 

Let us now examine, in its several stages, the process 
known as creation. In its fundamental aspect, this 
process arises out of the creative impulse. The com- 
bined action, on the one hand of the feeling, resulting 
in an inspiration, and on the other, of the knowledge 
of the laws of the universe and their existing forms of 
manifestation shaping that inspiration, together pro- 
duce the conception of the essential idea, or arche- 
type. More precisely, our examination of the creative 
process reveals this constant plan: The will wants to 
create and transmits this desire to the feeling, which in 
turn produces the inspiration. The inspiration, driven 
by an inner necessity to find a thought as a medium for 
its expression, with the assistance of all our knowledge 
searches the fundamentals of the problem and so 
arrives at the essential idea or archetype, from which 
it develops a type until it (the type) is fully revealed. 
This revelation takes the form first of abstract motion- 
form and then proceeds to forms of things or symbols, 
from which we are able to give concrete expression to 
the type in matter. 

A detailed analysis of the process may render it more 


178 CREATIVE DERG 


easily understandable: The consciousness or will wants 
to create something and gives its command, which is 
transmitted to, and acts upon, the feeling, making it 
vibrate, and illumination or inspiration is thus attained. 
This awakens the desire for expression and we then try 
to formulate our inspiration in terms of its essential 
conditions; and with the assistance of our knowledge 
of the laws of the universe, and of its manifested forms 
(created under those laws), we search for an essential 
thought or idea. Intuitively, as a response, we find 
the essential idea, or archetype which corresponds to 
the requirements of our inspiration within the range 
of our knowledge. From this archetype, the inspira- 
tion visualizes a determinate idea of a concrete form 
which best symbolizes the original command of the 
will. The achievement of this symbol through in- 
voluntary but precise reasoning, is the revelation of 
the type which we wish to create. Thus we have found 
the basis for its future manifestation in matter. Then, 
through the thought process, this concrete symbol is 
seen in all its details: first, as abstract motion-form 
(Fig. A.) which seems to be its expression as movement 
only; then as the concrete form or symbol (Fig. B.), 
built up from the line of motion which gives the ex- 
pression to the symbol. Both motion and symbol 
correspond to each other and are different aspects of 
the same expression of the inspiration. With this clear 
conception of the form of the symbol in our mind, the 
desire for its materialization is aroused and moves us 
to develop it to its final form in physical matter, the 
ultimate expression of the will’s original command. 
In this way, the creative process has been brought to 
its fruition. [See also illustrations on pages I2I-122. | 

The more knowledge we have, the more perfect arche- 


Gaels OF CREATION 179 


types we are able to find and thus the more perfect types 
or symbols we are able to create for our expression. The 
unexpected difficulties which bar our way when material- 
izing our creation will give us new knowledge on which to 


etPtg, 


Fig A Fig ls 


< Fia C 


The motion-form (Fig. A) has to be represented through material symbols as 
the type of structure of the object, (Fig. B) or as a representation of the 
movement of the object (Fig. C). 


base future creations; but from the new creations we 
shall gain new experience and new knowledge, so mak- 
ing evolution possible. Thus, what we now know and 
approve, after the experience of creation we shall come 
to reject, because we shall have learned more and will 


180. CREATIVE DESI. 


know better, and this evolutionary process within our- 
selves will move us always on to new action and to new 
creation. At the same time, we are always likely to use 
some particular laws or forms in preference to others, 
knowing or liking some better than others, and this 
will always give a certain individual stamp to our crea- 
tions, or what we term the characteristic mark of 
personality. 

Thus we see that the will to create the form as it exists 
in matter after being manifested with all its details as 
far as we are able to express it, existed from the very be- 
ginning in the consciousness. ‘The different and infinite 
forms of matter of our world are but manifestations of 
the consciousness. When we understand this we shall 
see that our creations already manifested or yet to be 
manifested are the expression of the consciousness and 
will of the creator. Every thing that is created is a 
part of the creator — it is of hisown nature. Such cre- 
ative function may be unconscious and instinctive or on 
the other hand conscious and intuitive. So we realise 
that all that exists or is going to exist is or was wrought 
by different beings in their different states of evolution, 
and all works of art have their place in the complete 
plan of evolution, from the most primary instinctive 
unconscious creation, to the intuitive creation of the 
superman. 

In this the vital fact is that everything has in its 
being or inner essence (or vibration) the feeling-thought 
of him who created it, it is a part of its creator. In the 
case of artistic manifestation we find that the action 
of feeling-thought through the manifested thing (the 
work of art) acts upon our being and impresses us or 
awakens in us a feeling-thought similar to that of the 
will, of the feeling-thought of the being (the artist) who 


Seuss OF CREATION 181 


created it. This is what we call the expression of the 
thing, which has the specific faculty to awaken in one 
the feeling of its creator by means of its expression. 

The comprehension of consciousness, expressed by the 
feeling-thought and manifested in created forms, 1s Art. 
Each thing that we create is a form of our feeling- 
thought and we call it a symbol or image, understanding 
as true symbols the types which best express our feeling- 
thoughts. The things that we use as symbols irradiate 
or awaken in others vibrations similar to those of the 
feeling-thought of the one who brought the symbols 
into being, and this is the power of expression of the 
symbol. 

The artist uses this and makes a language composed 
of symbols or images, using all kinds of forms and by 
means of them, through the work of art, contacts and 
synchronizes with the souls of others. Thus we get 
through the work of art the reaction of a spirit in 
the presence of the creation of another spirit. What 
we create must be the symbols of our feeling-thoughts. 
The work of art is the expression of our feeling- 
thoughts and we impress in it those two elements in 
their forms, colors, sentiments, symbols, composition 
and so forth, each of these corresponding to the expres- 
sion of the feeling or of the thought. Thus they express 
our masculine and feminine nature interwoven in the 
different parts of the composition. 

When the artist makes a composition combining those 
two elements in the right way, he gets their unification 
as a chord, producing the sensation of the higher 
harmonic vibration of their unification in the being of 
the observer, which is the quality called life, peculiar 
to master-pieces. —The comprehension or consciousness 
of this and the fact of being able to fuse feeling and 


182 CREATIVE DES 


thought in the work of art through its expression is the 
achievement of a genius. 

As the evolution of art is worked out by the evolu- 
tion of its forms and its expressions, so the artist who 
is able to create more perfect forms and expressions is 
helping the evolution of art. By the means of such 
more perfect expressions the higher feeling-thoughts 
may be expressed; or life in its higher forms and aspects 
manifested. 

We have said that by the development of intuition 
the comprehension of the feeling and the feeling of the 
thought is possible. This is the link to the higher or in- 
ner region. Intuition makes us conscious of it, makes the 
feeling and the thought one, and thus the connection is 
formed, and the way opened to the inner world of causes. 
The being who has awakened in the intuitive plane is 
conscious of the kind of thoughts the feeling awakens in 
himself and thus accomplishes with all perfection the 
thought-forms which correspond to his feelings. When 
he has also developed his will power, he is able to main- 
tain that state, and is able to accomplish bringing into 
physical manifestation, through his thoughts in form of 
symbols, the expression of that inner world which is the 
purer manifestation of consciousness. The nature of 
his will and consciousness which moved him to create 
will be expressed in his creation. 

This is the nearest reflection of the possibilities of 
the superman’s action and it is thus that the genius is 
inspired for his action, attaining this state of recep- 
tivity or inspiration in a greater or lesser degree, depend- 
ing on his state of evolution, but always incompletely. 
It is thus that the artist or ‘the inventor or any other 
creator solves his creative problems, being more or less 
conscious of the part he takes in the evolution of forms 


Peeks OF CREATION 183 


and their expressions while incidentally he works out 
his own evolution and so creates the new bases of the 
form, expression, and feeling of the future. 

The superman knows his place in the plan of evolu- 
tion and his actuation is conscious, when all this is 
brought to perfection. The perfect state of intuition 
is of absolute perception and comprehension of the 
consciousness. 

Summing up we may say that the development of 
the intuitive faculty to its utmost degree will make each 
being able to interpret and afterward to unify his dual 
nature. He will then know the part in the evolutional 
plan which he must perform and which corresponds 
to his achievement, being in its essence to help the 
unfoldment of all life. Art is one of the ways to fulfill 
such aspiration, for those who have a preference for that 
way. He will approach the goal, using of the strength 
of his will power, discriminating wisely and acting under 
the laws of order, selecting, destroying and building 
anew, each time that he knows or conceives something 
better. With this continued effort we shall unfold until 
we attain the unified action of our duality and reach 
consciousness, the perfect self-consciousness through 
intuition. And so, we shall achieve the goal of all 
life, Metamorphosis and the Superman. | 


A NOTE ON THE TYPE VIN 
WHICH THIS BOOK IS SET 


The type in which this book has been set (on the Monotype) 
15 based on the design of Caslon. It is generally conceded 
that William Caslon (1602-1766) brought the old-style letter 
to its highest perfection and while certain modifications have 
been introduced to meet changing printing conditions, the 
basic design of the Caslon letters has never been improved. 
The type selected for this book 1s a modern adaptation rather 
than an exact copy of the original Caslon. The principal 
difference to be noted is a slight shortening of the ascending 
and descending letters to accommodate a larger face on a given 
body-size. 


SET UP, ELECTROTYPED, PRINTED AND 
BOUND BY THE PLIMPTON Pit oe. 
NORWOOD, MASS. 


GETTY opt od LIBRARY 


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aaereth 


nae fries Seah stems 
meee See eee 


seaseecra paruth ett 


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